Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's opening weekend box office is lower than the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy average and also comes in well below the MCU average. The MCU is known for its reliability with both Rotten Tomatoes and the box office, and while none of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies have earned over $1 billion, they've all performed well above the MCU average. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's strong reviews continue James Gunn's Rotten Tomatoes hot streak, but its box office opening is a lot softer than the first two installments of the GotG trilogy.

Despite its solid track record in Phase 1-3, the MCU has struggled to return to its box office glory following Avengers: Endgame. Spider-Man: No Way Home was the only movie in Phase 4 to gross over $1 billion, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off Phase 5 with one of the MCU's biggest box office flops. While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's opening weekend box office can't be considered a flop and the movie is expected to have solid legs, it's not the kind of box office turnaround Phase 5 needs to recover from the MCU's post-Endgame slump.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's Opening Weekend Box Office is Below Guardians Average

knowhere is the guardians of the galaxy's mcu headquarters

Guardians of the Galaxy's opening weekend box office came in at $114 million, which is lower than the $120.4 million average for the Guardians trilogy. Guardians of the Galaxy opened to $94.3 million in 2014 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opened to $146.5 million in 2017. In fact, adjusted for inflation, the first Guardians of the Galaxy made closer to $120 million in 2023 dollars its opening weekend, giving it a proportionally stronger opening than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Box Office is Way Lower Than the MCU Average

The Guardians walking towards the camera with fire behind them in a scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The 31 MCU movies preceding Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had an average opening weekend of $135.2 million, $21 million more than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, although the Guardians average was already below the MCU average. Excluding Avengers movies, the MCU average comes down quite a bit to $118 million, which is lower than the average for the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but still more than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In fact, after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the average opening weekend box office for the whole Guardians trilogy now comes to $118 million, on par with the MCU's non-Avengers movie average.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's $114 million opening is certainly lower than Marvel Studios wanted for the trilogy capper to one of its most popular sub-franchises, but it's far too early to call the movie a flop. The first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies had solid box office legs, so with its solid reviews and strong audience reception, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will likely perform well in the coming weeks. Its long-tail box office performance likely won't be enough to surpass either of the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but its overall box office gross could still end up ahead of the MCU's non-Avengers box office average.

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