The Marvel Cinematic Universe drought in China seems to have well and truly come to an end, with the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 securing a theatrical release date in the world’s second-largest box office market. James Gunn’s Marvel swansong will be dropping in China on the same day as the United States, on May 5.
The release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the third Marvel film in a row to arrive on Chinese shores, following Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, both of which were released following a near-four year absence of Marvel films in China. Since then, China hadn’t had a theatrical release of a Marvel film since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and Avengers: Endgame.
While the Ant-Man and Black Panther sequels weren’t quite making excessive waves at the Chinese box office, the Guardians of the Galaxy films have historically performed admirably in that market, with the 2014 original pulling $86 million, while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 pulled close to $101 million, according to Deadline.
Whether the poor performances of Wakanda Forever and Quantumania came as a result of superhero film fatigue, poor reviews, or the fact that the former was available around the world well before its Chinese release, will likely become more apparent after some box office data from Guardians 3 rolls in.
Given that it will be one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s longest-ever films and promotional materials appear to hint towards imminent doom for the fan-favorite supergroup, it’s not looking like one to miss. Then again, we were pretty hyped about Ant-Man, and look how that turned out.
We’ll find out if the MCU can turn it around when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 lands in theaters on May 5, 2023.
