"Guardians of The Galaxy" is off to a flying start at the box office. In fact, the movie is Marvel's biggest launch since the first "Iron Man" back in 2008. The movie opened in the U.S. with an estimated $92 million, which is $20 million more than what some industry pundits have expected.
It is clear that from such a strong launch, Marvel has found a new cash cow, as the studio has been on a successful roll for the last six years. Furthermore, "Guardians of the Galaxy" became the first film to surpass the $90 million mark in August, taking the number one spot from "The Bourne Ultimatum's" $69.3 million launch back in 2007.
This is nothing but great news for Hollywood, as the sector has been begging for a blockbuster film since the year began. "Godzilla", while a good movie, didn't rake in the big numbers, and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" proved to be a terrible film, one that did well, but didn't earn as much as some were expecting.
However, despite flopping in the U.S., "Transformers: Age of Extinction" did well overseas, and went on to make $1 billion globally, so it wasn't a total loss.
At this point in time, Marvel is the only studio with a long unbeaten record of box office hits, and everyone is trying to replicate it.
By making "Guardians of the Galaxy" a hit movie, Marvel has done what many viewed as difficult and next to impossible. "Guardians" is not well-known compared with past Marvel movie properties, so it was thought to be unlikely to replicate the successes of "Iron Man" and the likes of "Thor" and "Captain America." Furthermore, the comics are also not popular, but no doubt the movie will likely bring the comics front and center into popularity before long.
At this rate, it shouldn't be difficult for "Guardians of the Galaxy" to surpass its budget of $170 million, and make Marvel a little bit of profit.
We're quite interested in seeing how Marvel plans to create a movie that includes both characters from the Avengers, and from Guardians of the Galaxy. That's a sure-fire hit right there if done right. But, hey, who can second-guess Marvel these days, the studio appears as if it can do no wrong.
