\u201cFate of the Furious\u201d will hit the road after three weekends in first place.<\/p>\n
Enter \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,\u201d which is set to kick off the summer box office with a bang. The latest from Disney and Marvel should blast off to a domestic opening in the range of $150 million to $170 million. A more conservative estimate from the studio pegged the opening at $140 million and change. The sequel to 2014\u2019s smash hit \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy\u201d will open in 4,300 locations domestically, including 388 Imax\u00a0screens. As an extra promotion through RealD, 558 spots will offer a 3D double feature starting with the first \u201cGuardians\u201d film and leading into a 7 p.m. screening of the sequel.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuardians 2\u201d comes into the weekend with well over $100 million in the bank from international ticket sales. It made more than $106 million in its first weekend at 58% of overseas territories. This week the movie opens in several more major foreign\u00a0markets \u2014 South Korea on May 3, Russia and Argentina on May 4, China on May 5, and Japan on May 12. This is a film that stands a fighting chance of cracking the $1 billion mark globally.<\/p>\n
While the first \u201cGuardians\u201d movie centered around how the band of misfit heroes \u2014 played by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper \u2014 came together, the sequel functions as an origin story. James Gunn is once again at the helm, but whereas he co-wrote the first movie with Nicole Perlman, this time he scripted solo. Gunn is already attached to write and direct the third \u201cGuardians\u201d movie.<\/p>\n
Which is to say, the sequel to 2014\u2019s \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy\u201d comes with high expectations. When the original was released in 2014, it was a relatively unknown property that managed to smash records for the month of August when it opened to more than $94 million domestically (still modest by Disney\/Marvel standards). But word-of-mouth kept building. By the end of its theatrical run, it had raked in $333 million domestically and $440 million overseas \u2014 the third-highest earner of the year behind two end-of-year releases (\u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay \u2013 Part 1\u201d and \u201cAmerican Sniper\u201d).<\/p>\n
The rag-tag band of quirky superheroes have since entered the public consciousness. Pratt is now a bona fide movie star, and baby Groot is an adorable fan favorite (not to mention merchandising poster child). Judging by the sequel\u2019s 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus says the movie targets all the same pleasure centers as the first go around \u2014 even if it sometimes feels like a rehash. \u201cShot for shot, line for line, it\u2019s an extravagant and witty follow-up, made with the same friendly virtuosic dazzle,\u201d Variety<\/em>\u2018s own Owen Gleiberman wrote in his mixed review of the sequel.<\/p>\n While the first was an August juggernaut, the second is set up in prime position \u2014 the first weekend in May has been dominant for Disney in recent history. In 2012 \u201cMarvel\u2019s The Avengers\u201d opened to $207 million \u2014 currently the third-highest sum of all time behind two 2015 blockbusters (\u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens\u201d and \u201cJurassic World\u201d). The past two years have seen \u201cAvengers: Age of Ultron\u201d open to $191 million and \u201cCaptain America: Civil War\u201d clean up with $179 million.<\/p>\n If all goes according to plan, get used to seeing \u201cGuardians Vol. 2\u201d on top. The big-budget superhero flick should coast past Warner Bros.\u2019 \u201cKing Arthur: Legend of the Sword\u201d next weekend, and possibly the following frame as well when it will face the long-awaited reboot from Fox, \u201cAlien: Covenant.\u201d<\/p>\n While no other studios would dare to compete with \u201cGuardians,\u201d a handful of movies are opening in limited release. The Weinstein Company is releasing \u201c3 Generations\u201d in six theaters, starring Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon, and Elle Fanning as a transgender teen. IFC is screening the boxing drama \u201cChuck,\u201d starring Liev Schreiber, in four locations. \u201cThe Dinner,\u201d from \u201cThe Messenger\u201d scribe Oren Moverman, is getting a limited release from The Orchard.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Fate of the Furious\u201d will end its reign on top of the box office with $1 billion-plus in worldwide grosses, powered by success overseas. It is currently the 19th highest-grossing film of all time, behind 2014\u2019s \u201cTransformers: Age of Extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source:\u00a0variety.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cFate of the Furious\u201d will hit the road after three weekends in first place. Enter \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,\u201d which is set to kick off the summer box office with a bang. The latest from Disney and Marvel should blast off to a domestic opening in the range ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":63664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4545],"tags":[9936],"class_list":["post-63663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-guardians-of-the-galaxy"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\n