Marvel and writer/director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Friday box office results laid to rest fears that a film starring a talking tree and raccoon couldn’t become a commercial success. In less than 24 hours a franchise has been born.
The future instantly looked bright for Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) when Guardians of the Galaxy racked up $11.2 million in ticket sales Thursday night, the biggest Thursday night opening for any film in 2014. Early opening weekend projections of $60-$65 million instantly jumped to north of $80 million and continued to climb as Friday estimates began to pour in.
This morning Marvel Studios reported that Guardians of the Galaxy earned $37.8 million Friday, a solid number that bests the opening day totals for the previous two Marvel films: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World. Revised weekend estimates now fall between $90 and $97 million.
One concern for the Guardians of the Galaxy weekend box office results are roughly 30 percent of Friday’s business coming on Thursday night. That could portend a front-loaded weekend and see a drop-off on Saturday and Sunday to push the three-day total closer to $90 million.
However, I went to the 9:20am showing on Saturday morning and it was either near capacity or completely sold out. There were many parents with their kids in the audience suggesting that Marvel’s marketing to families may be paying off. If it does and sellouts continue during the day on Saturday and Sunday, there’s a chance GOTG could surprise to the upside and push toward $100 million. My prediction is for a finalized total of around $98 million.
Check back Sunday for our complete weekend box office results and an update on where Guardians of the Galaxy will wind up.
