Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s second-weekend numbers are a great sign for the latest MCU movie (while also proving a point about the multiverse).
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s new box office numbers defy the current Multiverse Saga. James Gunn’s final Marvel movie has set a new record for the MCU in the post-pandemic era. However, the success of Guardians 3 could also be used as a critique of past MCU films that have been more focused on concepts of the multiverse with alternate timelines and realities.
Based on a new report from Deadline, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has “the best second-weekend hold for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title post-pandemic at a great -51% with $58M”. The movie’s opening weekend put the final Guardians film at $118M. Not only is -51% for a second weekend better than the previous two Guardians movies (-55%), but it’s quite telling that it’s the best second-weekend numbers Marvel Studios has had since the end of the pandemic. It’s also worth noting that the most recent MCU movie with better second-weekend numbers was during COVID with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Is Out-Performing Other MCU Multiverse Movies
Compared to other post-pandemic MCU movies such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the more recent Ant-Man in the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians 3’s numbers are a lot stronger. Other Marvel movies have had much lower second-weekend drops while Guardians 3 looks like it may have strong legs just ahead of a very busy summer release schedule. Furthermore, it can be argued that Guardians 3 not continuing the newly established concepts of the multiverse may have contributed to its success.
The fact that both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Shang-Chi had better second weekends in comparison to other recent Marvel projects supports the idea that there’s still a market for Marvel films that don’t use the multiverse. After all, Doctor Strange 2 and Ant-Man 3 were both criticized for many of the same things in reference to their multiversal plots. The growing consensus is that the MCU has yet to form a wholly cohesive and overarching through-line for the Multiverse Saga that was present in the Infinity Saga with Thanos and the Infinity Stones.
Could The MCU Have Multiverse Fatigue?
The question of MCU multiverse fatigue at the movies is very real in the middle phase of this new saga. However, it does seem as though MCU simply needs to create a stronger and more focused overarching plot behind the dynamic concepts of alternate realities and variants. In the meantime, movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with more character-driven stories and virtually no connection to the multiverse may continue to play a factor in their having greater success by comparison.
Source: Deadline
