GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 WEEKEND THREAD

[Jonwo]

I know we've been spoiled by Mario but $110-120m OW isn't poor at all, shows that there is still interest in the Marvel brand. 

 

 

[Issac Newton]

GOTG3 started with 9.5 at Chinese Rating Site "Maoyan" defeating Sony's "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

 

Some critics are calling it the best MCU release since "Avengers: Endgame"

[reddevil19]

Yeah, when you look at the MCU brand before the last few movies, and the GOTG movies themselves, 120 isn't fantastic, but especially if the WOM is good and it can stay strong in the marketplace, it could still be a success, and definitely a rebound after AM3. 90-100m would have been a bad sign, and 140+ would have erased all fears, so this somewhere-in-between number is good enough to allay the doom talks for a week at least. 

[KP1025]

2 minutes ago, Issac Newton said:

GOTG3 started with 9.5 at Chinese Rating Site "Maoyan" defeating Sony's "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

 

Some critics are calling it the best MCU release since "Avengers: Endgame"

 

Could have had a $200+ million run in China if released in 2019.

[stripe]

The huge amount of MCU series damaged the brand much more than the quality of Quantumania, IMHO. For two main reasons:

First, GA has begun to think that MCU can be enjoyed on streaming. In last 2 years, many of the new steps in this universe were not perceived as eventful because of that TV format.

Second, the series barely had a real reason to exist. Only Loki and Wandavision are important to the main story. Moon Knight and Ms Marvel would've worked much better as movies, but as a series both feel unfocused projects to meet minor unknown characters. Hawkeye only reason to exist was to present Kate Bishop and Echo. Not enough.

All these series add more than 2,400 minutes of MCU content, which is more than the runtimes of Phase 2&3 combined!!!!

[Issac Newton]

 

 

 

[Lestranger]

Anything over 110m feels like a success only in regards to the horrific tracking. Contextually, it needed 180m to match V2 opening weekend. It clearly is not in the same ballpark as that film. Dr strange opened to 187m a year ago. Thor, 144m. This is struggling to get to 120m? Something has changed permanently within MCU. Best hope is for amazing legs, which seem possible with the audience reactions so far. 

[SpiderByte]

58 minutes ago, stripe said:

Second, the series barely had a real reason to exist.

Not every single thing needs to be a setup for the next big plan.

[SpiderByte]

23 minutes ago, Lestranger said:

Anything over 110m feels like a success only in regards to the horrific tracking. Contextually, it needed 180m to match V2 opening weekend

I'm sorry but if the new bar is "it's a disappoint if it's not almost 200 million OW" that's ridiculous 

[Brainbug]

Controversial opinion maybe, but while im happy that GOTG avoided the pessimistic tracking scenarios and 120Mish OW would be ok to solid all things considered imo, i dont think it can reverse the downward trend of the MCU by itself. I think the MCU needs 3 or 4 really good movies one after another to win many audience members back.

 

If, for example, The Marvels audience reception is again in the mediocre waters, GOTG Vol 3 could be seen as an exception among the MCU's quality decline rather than a signal of a return to form.

[The Dark Alfred]

You guys can't spin this is out of a major disappointment. Fact. Period. No arguments here. Only hope is that legs won't be as bad as recent MCU trash.

 

How could 110m be considered a success when it is opening way below THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, which ( apart from me and a few folks ) people thought was disappointing. Everyone claimed that GOTG 3 will sail past that film easily. Fast forward nearly a year and a few trash MCU films later, the golden franchise fails to deliver as well.

 

When you are having a sizebale decrease from a second film with worse reviews, that's not a good sign. MCU is finished, only SPIDEY stands tall. And hopefully DEADPOOL.

[eXtacy]

2 minutes ago, The Dark Alfred said:

You guys can't spin this is out of a major disappointment. Fact. Period. No arguments here. Only hope is that legs won't be as bad as recent MCU trash.

 

How could 110m be considered a success when it is opening way below THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, which ( apart from me and a few folks ) people thought was disappointing. Everyone claimed that GOTG 3 will sail past that film easily. Fast forward nearly a year and a few trash MCU films later, the golden franchise fails to deliver as well.

 

When you are having a sizebale decrease from a second film with worse reviews, that's not a good sign. MCU is finished, only SPIDEY stands tall. And hopefully DEADPOOL.

[TwoMisfits]

5 hours ago, ShadowWeegee said:

it does make sense. The point was that expectations have been lowered so much that a film dropping $25M from its predecessor’s opening weekend despite ticket inflation is now seen as “decent.”

 

This forum would have called $120M an outright poor number until tracking made it look like it could be even worse.

 

The sports analogies being used are to illustrate that just because you’re way below expectations, climbing back up to merely below expectations is still a disappointment. 

 

Yup, a film can be a moneymaker, but still a disappointment (to varying degrees big and small) - see Batman V Superman.

[GambitPool]

I've been comparing the MCU to WWE/F for the past year or so. 

 

When WWF was massive (ratings wise, not profits wise like now), it was the coolest thing in the world. Everyone watched and talked about it. Everyone knew who Stone Cold and the Rock were. Then they lost those two and pivoted to a more family friendly product with John Cena as the face of the company. 

 

WWE stopped being the cool thing. They gained younger audiences, but lost older. Cena wasn't cool, he was lame. Wrestling isn't cool anymore without Rock and Stone Cold.  Eventually it's gotten to the point where they have a dedicated fan base, but ratings are a fraction of what they were. They had to pivot to massive TV deals, and later on, streaming deals, major sponsorships, and blood money with Saudi Arabia to replace all their lost fans. 

 

The MCU just isn't the cool thing anymore. They lost their Stone Cold (Cap) and their Rock (Tony). They're in their "Cena" phase with new characters lacking the "It" factor. The dedicated fan base will still show up, but general audiences don't feel they need to continue watching everything. 

 

Which is another comparison I can make. Wrestling is a lifelong commitment. It doesn't end; there's always new characters and new stories. It's always hard to bring in general audiences when you're asking them to watch 3 wrestling shows a week with weekend events once to twice a month. They show up for their WrestleManias and Royal Rumbles, but general audiences won't dedicate a substantial portion of their week to pro wrestling. 

 

The MCU asked for commitment in the beginning. Watch 2 movies a year leasing up to our team ups. They asked for 3 movies a year, however that's fine because it was building to a decades long conclusion. Now they're asking for 3, maybe 4 films a year with 2-3 shows as supplemental material. 

 

Audiences have realized there is no ending to the MCU. They will keep putting films and shows out with no proper conclusion to the MCU. If you're a new fan looking to get into it, you have an entire 4 Phases to catch up. Like wrestling, this commitment is lifelong and it's overwhelming for general audiences. 

[Jonwo]

7 minutes ago, The Dark Alfred said:

You guys can't spin this is out of a major disappointment. Fact. Period. No arguments here. Only hope is that legs won't be as bad as recent MCU trash.

 

How could 110m be considered a success when it is opening way below THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, which ( apart from me and a few folks ) people thought was disappointing. Everyone claimed that GOTG 3 will sail past that film easily. Fast forward nearly a year and a few trash MCU films later, the golden franchise fails to deliver as well.

 

When you are having a sizebale decrease from a second film with worse reviews, that's not a good sign. MCU is finished, only SPIDEY stands tall. And hopefully DEADPOOL.

It's a bit hyperbolic to say the MCU is finished, Disney aren't going to stop making Marvel films, they still make lots of money for the company. It's like saying WB should stop making DC films and we all know that's not happening either.

 

 

 

[stripe]

12 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

Not every single thing needs to be a setup for the next big plan.

 

Nope, but do we need 300 minutes to tell these stories? Wasn't it possible to reduce Hawkeye's plot to just 2 hours? It would feel more focused and eventful. Same with Falcon, Moonknight and Miss Marvel.

All this long filler didn't help the brand to get focus or to keep the idea that every MCU opening=event.

 

And I say that as an MCU fan that has seen everything

[Issac Newton]

1 hour ago, Issac Newton said:

GOTG3 started with 9.5 at Chinese Rating Site "Maoyan" defeating Sony's "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

 

Some critics are calling it the best MCU release since "Avengers: Endgame"

8.6 Douban!!! Highest for an 2023 Hollywood Release defeating Universal's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" (8.0) 

 

Noteworthy Mentions - "Avengers: Endgame" - 8.5

 

 

 

[Jonwo]

There seems to be a lot of anti-streaming rhetoric, are we seriously suggesting that Disney+ should have no original content from Marvel Studios? 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Jonwo

[vafrow]

I think you have to give credit to the Marvel marketing team here. 

 

This was heading to a brutal scenario just a week and a half ago. The decision to move up the review embargo, and release of various clips all seemed to be well planned out. They obviously got to enough of their audience to convince people, when it didn't look like it was going to happen.

 

We'll see how the reaction to this film and opening weekend goes. Most people don't pay attention to things like tracking, so doing better than expected may not count as much, but, getting to $120M if they can manage it could be enough to make the story about the film and good word of mouth.

 

My fear was that if it fell below Antman, the box office would become the story on it.

[SpiderByte]

11 minutes ago, stripe said:

 

Nope, but do we need 300 minutes to tell these stories? Wasn't it possible to reduce Hawkeye's plot to just 2 hours? It would feel more focused and eventful. Same with Falcon, Moonknight and Miss Marvel.

All this long filler didn't help the brand to get focus or to keep the idea that every MCU opening=event.

 

And I say that as an MCU fan that has seen everything

I don't see how making the shows two episodes long would make them more like an event.