"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is blowing up movie theaters like Rocket and one of his
moon-destroying weapons. And there are plenty of very good reasons for its deserved success.
One of the biggest factors that weighed on the release of "Ant-Man and The Wasp:
Quantumania" was the fact that it hit a wall of negative critical reviews before it even reached
its opening night. In contrast, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was buzzing the moment
the early screenings started. To be clear, some reviews were a mixed bag. But that didn't matter.
The overwhelming message from early viewers was simple: Vol. 3 is one of the MCU's crown jewels.
The warm early reception paved the way for viewers to flock to the cinemas to see if the critics were
right. With so much buzz over the long-awaited third installment, the strong initial response
confirmed that everyone needed to get to a theater to see the space spectacle for themselves.
There's one significant external factor that guaranteed that the
third "Guardians" film would succeed at the box office: There was very little
competition. James Gunn's third and final MCU installment arrived in cinemas with
evergreen movies populating screens and no major tentpole film on the horizon.
"Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" came out on May 5th. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"
came out on April 5th. Despite release dates one month apart,
"Super Mario" was still the runner-up at the box office on Quill and company's opening weekend.
"Look at us. We're adorable!"
The pair was distantly followed by other less popular options,
like "Evil Dead Rise," "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," and newcomer "Love Again."
Other cinematic runs were also still playing,
including "John Wick: Chapter 4" and "Dungeons and Dragons:
Honor Among Thieves," which goes to show how slim the options were on the first weekend of May 2023.
And the second-place competition from the still-overperforming "Mario" only
brought in $18.6 million, less than a sixth of the galactic-sized total domestic haul of "Guardians."
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" came out in early May, right in the middle
of spring. But the trailers billed the film as an early summer blockbuster. The truth is,
summer blockbusters don't care about hard calendar dates. Warm weather is here. Summer
break is right around the corner. Vacations are on the calendar. The summer movie season
has arrived, and the third "Guardians" installment capitalized on that fact.
The argument goes back and forth about whether the summer box office is all it's cracked up to be,
and the 2023 summer slate is certainly a mixed bag. There are plenty of tentpole
films and indie alternatives coming to theaters in the coming months, but the
post-pandemic theatrical slump continues to dog cinemas, making any summer success questionable.
Still, "Guardians 3" managed to pull some of that summer box office magic
into Spring. The result was a film billed as kicking off the supposedly
impending "summer swell," which certainly didn't hurt the movie's must-see appeal.
The theatrical experience isn't what it used to be. Before the pandemic,
going to the movies was a common activity regardless of what movie titles were up on
the marquee. But the entire pastime came to a screeching halt in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Since quarantines and social distancing requirements have lifted,
theaters have had a slow and painful return to normalcy. Even then, the "new normal"
for theaters is hardly reminiscent of the old one. Packed auditoriums are rare and
only tend to happen when there is a truly big movie that will attract an audience.
"Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" fits the bill of a genuine tentpole film in a way that
few others can. It's a large-scale story with A-list talent and glittering special effects
that concludes the story of a top property in an already wildly successful cinematic universe. By
post-pandemic theatrical standards, "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" was simply too big to fail.
"Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" is worth watching for the emotional story it tells.
But plenty of external factors had viewers ready to watch it as soon as possible. One
of the most prominent of these was watching James Gunn's MCU swan song.
As the veteran director prepares to reboot Superman as part of his DC-focused future,
fans were ready to flock to see his final directorial moments in Marvel's universe.
The emotions were even higher for fans who remembered Gunn's sudden dismissal
from the franchise back in 2018 and his even more abrupt rehiring two years later.
Since Gunn's reinstatement, fans have anxiously waited to see what
he would cook up for his last hurrah in the MCU, and he didn't disappoint.
Back in 2014, the unexpectedly emotional story of the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" captured
the hearts of diehard and fairweather fans alike. The success of the first
film was so great that it competed with obvious blockbusters like "The Avengers"
in the hearts and minds of MCU audiences. Its sequel, while less popular, still built on the
existing narrative, simultaneously creating more laughs and greater emotional stakes.
"We were always searching for a family until we found each other."
During the extended lull between the second and third franchise films, the bumbling-but-heroic
group got tangled up in the "Infinity War" affair with the Avengers, where they lost Gamora and saw
half of their crew snapped into thin air. They went through even more harrowing adventures in
"Avengers: Endgame" before making a brief pit stop in Thor's fourth franchise film.
Then they set the stage for "Vol. 3" with the Disney+ Christmas special released in late 2022.
From their spunky origins to a Christmas-light-infused romp on
Knowhere with Kevin Bacon, this ragtag team of heroes has seen it all. The fact that their
third standalone film was heavily billed as the original group's last outing and the final chapter
of their story made it an automatic trip to the theater on opening weekend for countless fans.
The MCU is in the midst of a seismic shift. The first three phases of the cinematic universe,
collectively billed as the "Infinity Saga," officially ended in the wake of the conflict
with Thanos. Since then, Phase 4 struggled to recapture the magic of the first wave of Marvel
movies. New heroes were introduced in isolated stories that only occasionally overlapped with the
larger narrative. In addition, the use of Disney+ limited series alongside full-length feature films
disrupted and accelerated the traditionally slow build-up of past MCU storytelling.
Phase 5 has begun, with Kang looming and many crossovers in store. Yet the transition from the
classic Avengers to a new roster of heroes remains shaky. That’s why a group like the Guardians of
the Galaxy is so priceless. The team links to the past and projects into the future. A movie like
this one evokes nostalgia while also setting up the storylines and stakes of future films.
This isn't just helpful behind the scenes. Fans feel it too. The ability to live in the
comfort zone of past franchise experiences while getting amped for future possibilities
gave "Vol. 3" a dual attraction that is hard to find in the MCU at the moment.
One morbidly fascinating factor that doubtless drew many viewers to see "Guardians of the Galaxy:
Vol. 3" on opening weekend was the question of who was going to die.
While there are multiple death scares, particularly for Star-Lord and Rocket, by the time
the credits roll no one from the original gang is given their final last words. Yet the question of
which of the original gang would die was in the air for months leading up to the film's release.
The trailers showed clips of Nebula carrying a limp Star-Lord. Rocket is shown surrounded
by white light. There's a snapshot of Quill screaming in grief. The signs were there,
and while they ended up being red herrings, they motivated a lot of viewers to get off
the couch and hightail it to the nearest big screen before they saw spoilers online.
Rocket is one of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. He's been with the team
from the beginning when the crew bumped into one another on Xandar. He bonded with his new
family and suffered through losing them in The Blip. Yet despite his presence, cynical humor,
and endless devotion to his friends, we didn't really know who the MCU's version of Rocket was.
"Or if you want to blow up moons."
"No one is blowing up moons."
"You just wanna suck the joy out of everything."
The promotional material made it clear that the third "Guardians" movie wasn't just a send-off for
the original team, but also an homage to Rocket. The raccoon was an underdeveloped character that
was near and dear to the director's heart. In a 2022 interview with "Entertainment Weekly," Gunn
explained his motivation for shining a spotlight on the Guardians' smartest member. He said,
"One of the reasons why I came back to [make] this movie was because I felt like I needed to
tell Rocket's story. I would've been very sad not to complete the trilogy for many reasons,
but I just feel very connected to Rocket. I feel
like nobody would be able to tell his full story if it wasn't me."
Gunn may have a special affinity for Rocket, but there are millions of fans close behind
him. Learning the origins of everyone's favorite Trash Panda was too good to miss.
Groot has had one of the most transformative journeys of any MCU character. While the
stoic nature of Groot's race has remained intact throughout the arc of his character's evolution,
the rest of him has changed every time we've seen him.
"I am Groot!"
The original Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy" went down in a self-sacrificing
ball of arboreal glory as the team saved Xandar from an Infinity Stone-wielding
Ronan the Accuser. By the end of the film, an offshoot of the hero was growing in a planter.
In "Vol. 2," Baby Groot is dancing around with toddler-like innocence. "Infinity War"
features a teenage Groot obsessed with himself and uninterested in helping unless he has to.
By the "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," Groot is looking all grown up.
One of the small-yet-significant draws of a third "Guardians of the Galaxy" flick was the fact that
we could see where Groot is in his ever-growing state. It turns out that we get two iterations for
the price of one. Initially, Groot is in his young adult phase, and he remains that way for the bulk
of the movie. However, in one of the end credit scenes, we're treated to a super-sized version of
the character. Whether he's a happy-go-lucky sapling or a living tree, gauging where the
character is during his life cycle has become a fun revelation with each Guardian's appearances.
Looking back, Thanos was a pretty incredible MCU antagonist. Building up a multi-movie villain and
delivering a satisfying pay-off is hard. One-off villains often outshine them, especially with good
writing and execution. Past big bads, like Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger and Cate Blanchett’s Hela,
exemplify this, and so does Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary in "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3."
The High Evolutionary is a detached and lofty villain who fascinates and horrifies
all at once. While less sympathetic than other antagonists, the character
is frightening in a cold and rational way that makes him the stuff of nightmares.
"I'm not trying to conquer the universe. I'm perfecting it."
Iwuji brings The High Evolutionary to life in an incredibly believable way, with a performance that
ranks amongst the best that the MCU has given us in years. The High Evolutionary may go down with
his planet-sized ship, but he made a big impact in what just might be his only MCU appearance.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” may seem like a blast from the past, but it technically belongs
to Phase 5 of the MCU. It fits squarely in the middle of the current mega-narrative arc,
the "Multiverse Saga." True, the third film in the series doesn’t have much to do with traversing
multiple dimensions, but it prepares the ground for the increasingly complex storytelling ahead.
Gamora’s story illustrates this. In “Vol. 3,” the Daughter of Thanos is not herself. In fact,
she's a past iteration of Gamora from 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy" storyline,
transplanted several years into the future. The original Gamora died in "Avengers:
Infinity War" at the hands of her adopted father.
"Everyone else who died in the past stayed dead,
not her. Why? Was it the magic cliff? I don't know."
The interactions between this "reset" Gamora and the rest of the Guardians are
a nice testing ground to explore how to tell meaningful multiverse narratives that actually
matter. Of course, the fact that the Gamora storyline was already teased in "Avengers:
Endgame" made it something fans were invested in watching play out as soon as possible.