Perhaps it was the fact that it ushered in a new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps it was because the first big-screen appearance of Kang the Conqueror generated exactly the hype it should have, or maybe MCU fans are just that fickle, but after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania proved to be nothing more than a wet fart of a superhero film, faith in the future of Marvel seemed to fall off a cliff earlier this year.
But it seems as though the threats of hype train abandonment were all bark and no bite, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the first feature-length MCU film to release since Quantumania, currently sitting comfortably at a $282 million global opening weekend, including unexpected overperformances in a number of Asian territories, such as China and Korea.
Per Deadline, the total international box office gross over Vol. 3‘s opening weekend was roughly $168 million over 52 markets, with the three highest being China, the United Kingdom, and Korea, which each contributed $28.1 million, $14.7 million, and $14.6 million, respectively.
At the time of writing, Vol. 3‘s domestic box office sits at a toasty $114 million, ever-so-slightly exceeding its expected $110 million.
Indeed, even though Quantumania was a high-profile bump in the road, the long highway that is the MCU looks dead set on persevering, and while the irony of new DC Studios gaffer James Gunn gifting Marvel its first big win of the year won’t be lost on anybody, it’s also perhaps the most poetic way of proving that widespread superhero fatigue could well be a myth.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters.
Published: May 7, 2023 08:20 pm