After a triple-digit opening last weekend, nothing looks likely to stand in the way of another set of paydays for Marvel's (NYSE:DIS) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at the box office.
The film has drawn solid critical reaction (like the first two films in the series), and ended up with $118.4M domestically in its debut weekend -- a bit lower than expectations, but still far and away the dominant film, with top 2023 hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie (NASDAQ:CMCSA) then in its fifth weekend.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is up to $145.5M domestic and $365.6M on a worldwide basis, and it and Mario have a very good chance of going 1-2 again this weekend -- a period with a multitude of also-rans, some very modest, looking to pick up some crumbs.
Among those: Ben Affleck stars in Robert Rodriguez's thriller Hypnotic (Ketchup Entertainment). Book Club: The Next Chapter (CMCSA) seeks the audience from its predecessor, a romantic comedy starring Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen. Fool's Paradise (Roadside Attractions) marks the directorial debut of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day. And fantasy adventure Knights of the Zodiac (Stage 6) will look to draw fans of the manga on which it's based, Saint Seiya.
Also, for the old Research In Motion fans out there: BlackBerry -- the based-on-a-true story of the creation of the iconic Canadian keyboard-phone once made by the company sharing its name (BB) -- opens moderately wide in several hundred locations, looking to thumb its way to some box-office bucks.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWQ); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).