Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Tracking for Lower Box Office Opening Than Vol. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 won't press play for another three weeks, but early box office projections have James Gunn's trilogy ender coming in below 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The Marvel Studios sequel is projected for an opening weekend between $125 million-$130 million, TheWrap reports, lower than the $146.5 million grossed by Vol. 2 over the same May weekend in 2017 (which was 55% higher than the first film's opening in August 2014). A potential $130 million haul would come in below the $146.3 million three-day opening scored by the animated Super Mario Bros. Movie, which also stars Chris Pratt and is so far the biggest box office opening of the year.

Vol. 3 could track higher as the first social media reactions and critic reviews hit later in the month. Advance tickets have been on sale since April 3rd.

Disney's Marvel officially began marketing Vol. 3 during last year's San Diego Comic-Con, where convention goers were the first to see footage showing glimpses at Marvel Cinematic Universe newcomers the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) and the cosmic Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). The first full trailer arrived online at Brazil's CCXP in December, followed by a 30-second Big Game spot and simultaneous online trailer release during the Super Bowl in February.

Trailers and recent teasers for the Phase 5 film have taken the "end of an era" approach of Avengers: Endgame, the Phase 3 film that marked the penultimate chapter of the Infinity Saga and the end of the original Avengers line-up. The Guardians' "greatest hits" teaser declared Vol. 3 "the end of the road" and "the final tour" for this team of Guardians: Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper).

Gunn has confirmed Vol. 3 is "the last time people will see this team" of Guardians. With Gunn moving over to Warner Bros. Discovery as co-head of DC Studios with his The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran, Bautista has also made it clear that Vol. 3 is his final outing as Drax.

"Vol. 3 has a lot of the fun and the goofy stuff of Guardians, but it's also incredibly emotional. It's the end of the story for this group of Guardians, so there was a lot of emotion around it," Gunn said in a recent interview, adding "it really matters to me that we end this story well."

"I'll be honest, I started looking at all the trilogies that have existed throughout time, and in most trilogies, the third movie is awful," Gunn continued. "There's a couple of exceptions, but when I say a couple, I mean like two or three. It's very rare that the third movie in a franchise is good. So, it was important to me that we really ended this story in a good way."

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens only in theaters May 5th.