Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Zooms to $145 Million Opening

CBR

By Kevin Melrose

Published May 7, 2017

The Marvel Studios sequel raked in $145 million domestically and $124 million, pushing its worldwide total to $427.6 million.

Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" started off with a bang in North American theaters, earning $145 million in its opening weekend -- more than 54 percent ahead of the 2014 original.

Early projections placed director James Gunn's film to earn somewhere in the $140 million to $150 million range domestically, although some predicted as high as $170 million.

The sequel raked in another $124 million in its second weekend overseas, bringing its international total to $282.6 million, and its worldwide haul to an estimated $427.6 million. According to Disney, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" has pushed the combined Marvel Cinematic Universe films past $11 billion.

Even as the Marvel sequel barreled into North American theaters this weekend, it rolled into more foreign markets, led by China with $48 million, South Korea with $13.3 million and Russia with $11.6 million.

Needless to say, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" took the top spot at the domestic box office, unseating "The Fate of the Furious," which slipped to No. 2 with $8.5 million. Don't shed any tears for the eighth installment of the Universal Pictures franchise, though: It's so far earned more than $200 million in North America and $1.16 billion worldwide.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” stars Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Vin Diesel as Baby Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha, Chris Sullivan as Taserface, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Glenn Close as Irani Rael and Kurt Russell as Ego.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)