Discover more from FranchiseRe movie industry newsletter

Unbiased movie box office information for entertainment professionals, insiders, and movie lovers. This is how the film business does it. Our readers? Studio heads, streaming bosses, filmmakers, marketers, agents, journalists, and movie lovers.

Over 1,000 subscribers

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 opening | LOVE AGAIN opening | Superheroes in 2023 update | May 5 to 7, 2023 weekend

Opening weekend box office, charts and commentary

David A. Gross

May 7, 2023

1) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opening

- This is an excellent opening for a Marvel episode 3 sequel, at above average levels for the genre. Bear in mind, for superheroes, average is in the stratosphere. Marvel's series are particularly good at growing in their 2nd and 3rd episodes. With Guardians, the growth happened in Vol. 2, which leaped above the first film's opening by more than half. This start is below Vol. 2, and bigger than the first film, which opened to $94.3m. This is strong business.

Marvel built superheroes into the dominant genre it is today. This is the 9th Marvel episode 3 across all studios, and the 8th to open to over $100m. That’s an exceptional track record:
The international markets are unsettled right now for all of the big genres — China and Russia, in particular. However, the U.S. dollar has weakened recently, helping overseas numbers in general. And markets like Mexico, Taiwan, Indonesia, India, and the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia) have flashed impressive strength depending on the release.

2) Love Again opening

- This is a weak opening for an original romantic comedy. Reviews are poor. These films work when the casting is strong and the personalities jump off the screen. Movies like The Lost City finished with $192.9m worldwide, and Ticket to Paradise made $168.4m. Love Again cost only $9m and will collect money in the ancillary markets:

Four more romantic comedies open later this year: Book Club 2 next weekend, No Hard Feelings on June 23, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 on September 8, and Anyone But You was just dated on December 15.
This is the best movie box office information available anywhere. To receive new posts, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

3) Superheroes in 2023 update

- Thus far in 2023, superheroes have performed unevenly. Ant-Man 3 opened very well, but business dropped in subsequent weeks. Shazam! 2 struggled from the start. This weekend's opening is excellent.

A crucial stretch of the lineup starts in mid-June with The Flash, followed by Blue Beetle in August, and Kraven the Hunter in October. These are three new stories that have the potential to set up three new series, something the industry always likes, as older franchises finish: