Guardians of the Galaxy opened at the beginning of August, a traditionally less lucrative month for tentpole films. The lack of blockbuster competitors in the month actually worked in Marvel’s favor and Guardians launched to the largest August opening weekend of all-time. The real story is how long it held strong, dropping to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the following weekend but jumping back to the top slot for several consecutive weeks after.
It held onto that momentum in large part to positive reviews and word-of-mouth to become the third biggest Marvel movie ever in the U.S. (and biggest of the year) and the most successful Marvel franchise starter. Two months later and Guardians of the Galaxy finally opened in China last week to become the country’s largest October opening of all-time and in the U.S., 11 weeks in, the film is still outperforming The Avengers and The Dark Knight, along with all of the Spider-Man and X-Men movies.
With all of that in mind, it’s not really surprising at this point to see the film cross the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office. Captain America: The Winter Soldier also hit that milestone with an equally impressive success story earlier this year where it also set records opening in early April.
