August 4, 2014 by Paul Curtin
Marvel’s new crew of superheroes just had the biggest debut ever for an August release this weekend. Guardians of the Galaxy‘s gigantic $94 million opening easily destroyed that of the previous record holder, The Bourne Ultimatum, which opened at $69.3 million in 2007. Guardians‘ opening was also only less than $1 mil short of Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s three-day opening of $95 mil back in April.
This is great news for Marvel, who could probably turn a huge profit on even a Howard the Duck film now, especially considering that Guardians was tracking about $20-$30 mil lower than it actually preformed. We absolutely loved Marvel’s latest, so it’s good to see director James Gunn and the rest of the cast’s hard work paying off.
Another member of the Marvel movie universe, Scarlett Johansson, had her own supernatural thriller, Lucy, hold strong in second for its second week at the box office after opening in the top spot last week. Meanwhile, the James Brown biopic, Get On Up, which also opened in theaters this weekend, got absolutely crushed in third place with only $13.6 million.
Here are the numbers for the top five of the domestic box office over the weekend via BOM:
- Guardians of the Galaxy — Weekend Gross: $94.3 million — Total Gross: $94.3 million (new)
- Lucy — Weekend Gross: $18.3 million — Total Gross: $79.5 million (#1 last week)
- Get On Up — Weekend Gross: $14 million — Total Gross: $13.6 million (new)
- Hercules — Weekend Gross: $11.0 million — Total Gross: $52.7 million (#2 last week)
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes — Weekend Gross: $8.7 million — Total Gross: $189.3 million (#3 last week)
