Deadline has relayed a box office report ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s imminent domestic opening which predicts a strong $140m-$160m bow across Canada and the United States.
That would place James Gunn’s galactic sequel well on its way to reaching $300 million by the end of the weekend, given Guardians 2 has already scooped up $130 million overseas. Around 4,300 theaters will play host to Star-Lord’s sophomore adventure in North America alone, according to Deadline’s scoop, and assuming the Marvel tentpole lands on the high end of those financial projections, it’ll write its name in the history books as the fifth best opening weekend for the month of May, directly behind Iron Man 3 ($174.1m), Captain America: Civil War ($179.1m), Avengers: Age Of Ultron ($191.3m) and Avengers, the current king of May with an eye-watering $207.4 million.
All in all, it’s a slightly more conservative estimate for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on home turf, after early figures wagered that James Gunn’s spacefaring romp could climb all the way to $180 million. By consolidating the two sets of data, one would assume GotG Vol. 2 will pull in approximately $150 million across its FSS launch – that is, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – which is a remarkable feat by any standard. In fact, it’s almost twice that of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, which opened to $94.3 million Stateside back in 2014 – an August record, before David Ayer’s Suicide Squad stormed to $133 million two years later.
On May 5th, moviegoers all across North America will welcome Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 into theaters. Exactly where James Gunn’s sequel will place in that projected $140m-$160m window remains to be seen, but make no mistake: it’s shaping up to be a strong debut for Marvel’s dysfunctional family.