Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has rocketed to an estimated $282.1M global opening. This beats projections which were cautious given uncertainty in Asian markets, particularly China and Korea. Ultimately, they over performed at $28.1M and $13.6M, respectively. The international box office weekend was $168.1M in 52 material markets.
The overseas launch is 70% ahead of the first Guardians of the Galaxy and on par with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which had the benefit of May Day holiday playtime in many markets) on a like-for-like basis. Removing China from the comparison, the opening weekend for the thre-equel is 98% ahead of GOTG and 13% above GOTG2.
All regions, in the end, came in higher than expected. Strong word of mouth helped propel the James Gunn-directed movie. It debuted as the No. 1 non-local title in all markets save Japan (where The Super Mario Bros Movie was tops), Saudi Arabia (John Wick: Chapter 4) and Egypt (Evil Dead Rise).
GOTG3 bowed above the previous installment in several markets including Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan, Korea, Brazil and Mexico. As we noted earlier (see below), China gave it the highest social scores of any MCU release.
The Top 5 markets at open are China ($28.1M), UK ($14.7M), Korea ($13.6M), Mexico ($13M) and France ($8.2M).
In IMAX, GOTG3 grossed $25M from 1,550 screens in 82 markets to set the biggest global score of 2023 for the format and the 3rd highest for Marvel since Avengers Endgame. Overseas repped $14.3M.
As for the continuing mastodon that is Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, well it did another $50.3M in 79 offshore markets. That lifts overseas to $637.2M and worldwide to $1.155B. Globally, it is now the No. 5 biggest animated film ever and Uni’s 2nd biggest.
Japan saw excellent uplift of 32% and held the No. 1 spot, now having overtaken the lifetimes of Avengers: Endgame, Cinderella, and Minions. Korea scored the best Children’s Day performance of all time for an animated title and was up 16%.
The Top 5 markets to date are Mexico ($80.6M), the UK ($60.8M), France $(52M), Japan ($48.4M) and Germany ($47.9M).
Evil Dead Rise in its sophomore session added $9.1M from 63 markets, good for a 49% drop. The international cume to date is $60.7M and the worldwide total is $114.8M through Sunday.
