By Chris Kavan - 05/07/17 at 07:26 PM CT
Marvel is showing no signs of any kind of superhero fatigue as Guardians of the Galaxy 2 delivered another knockout performance for the MCU. Without any competition, the sequel alone accounted for 79% of the total for the top 10 films at the box office over the weekend. It also opened significantly higher that the original, though that was a given as the first film was kind of a question when it came out. Regardless, other films passed some major milestones as the summer movie season officially kicked off and we should look forward to several more upcoming blockbusters, though it may be awhile before any match the opening power of Guardians.
1) GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
Marvel's second entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise hit orbit with a fantastic $145 million opening (that could climb higher once final results post on Monday). Whatever the case, the film opened 54% higher than the original Guardians of the Galaxy ($94.3 million). That is the largest jump between a Marvel original film and its sequel barring the 88.5% jump between Winter Soldier and Civil War. It's 2.57x weekend multiplier also puts it right in the sweet spot for Marvel films and, if it follows a similar pattern to the previous MCU movies, it should wind up with $400 million, with a better-than-average chance to even top that mark. In terms of competition, the biggest real threat will arrive on Memorial Day when Wonder Woman drops - though Alien: Covenant could eat it into it a bit. Still, it essentially has the entire month of May as the de facto blockbuster of choice. Audiences awarded it a great "A" Cinemascore and it was made up of 56% male with a full 72% made up of adults with only 22% coming in under 25. It also has a very good $282.6 million overseas for a $427.6 million worldwide total thus far. That pushes the MCU to a total of $11.3 billion across the entire series of films - and it's only going to get better from here. Guardians also set a record for the most IMAX screens - 1006 across 69 markets ($25 million of its worldwide total was from the large format alone). While it's not guaranteed, $400 million domestic seems likely and it will approach close to the $1 billion mark worldwide.
2)
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS
The top movie for the last three weeks had to settle for second place. Don't feel too bad for Vin Diesel and his testosterone-fueled friends, the $8.5 million it brought in was enough to push Fate of the Furious over the $200 million mark with a new $207.1 million domestic total. It continues to show most of its muscle in foreign territories, however, as its $30.1 million overseas total pushed it to an eye-opening $950 million foreign total and an impressive $1.158 billion worldwide - now 13th largest worldwide all time and 7th best foreign total. The film still has a lot of gas left in its tank even with the increased pressure. It's already the second-biggest non-fantasy film on the list (behind just Furious 7 at $1.5 billion). I suspect it could still rise on both lists before it ends its run. Its domestic total will likely stall out at around $225 million, but its foreign total should continue to run strong through May.
3)
THE BOSS BABY
After falling to 5th place thanks to some surprising performances out of How to Be a Latin Lover and Baahubali 2, Boss Baby bounced back to third place with a $6.17 million weekend and a new total of $156.7 million. Crossing that $150 million milestone is a big step for the Boss Baby. It's also doing quite well on the global market with a worldwide total of $435 million. It's looking less likely it will be able to catch Home ($177.3 million) or How to Train Your Dragon 2 ($177 million) on the domestic front, but even so, for an original, animated film, Boss Baby is going to wind up just fine.
4)
HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER
The breakout performance of Eugenio Derbez in How to Be a Latin Lover took an expected 57.2% tumble in its second week but still added $5.25 million for a new $20.65 million total. That makes it the second-best performing film for Pantelion behind Instructions Not Included ($44 million). How to Be a Latin Lover doesn't look like it will be able to to that total but, no worries, the excellent performance means we're likely to be seeing Derbez in more roles in the near future and the future of Pantelion looks bright.
5)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Finding its way back in to the top five after being briefly ousted, Disney's Beauty and the Beast live-action remake earned $4.94 million, giving the film a new total of $487.6 million. Its worldwide total stands just above Fate of the Furious at $1.186 billion where it stands 11th all time on that list. It topped the $486 million domestic total of Finding Dory and now stands 8th all time on that list. Oh, it also only dropped 27.6% in its 8th weekend, the best hold out of any film in the top 12. It is fading, but I still think $500 million is within its grasp as family audiences are clearly still enamored by this tale as old as time.
Outside the top five: Surprising top five performer Baahubali 2 from last week also had an expected drop of nearly 69% but it was already the highest-grossing Indian film on record, so the $3.24 million (7th place) showing and new $16.1 million total only added to its record-setting total.
Way, way down in 21st place, the nearly-immortal Logan crept across the $225 million mark with a $330,000 weekend and new $225.08 million total.
Next week brings us the medieval action/adventure Arthur: Legend of the Sword along with the Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn comedy Snatched.
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