Friday Box Office: Guardians of The Galaxy Set to Become #1 Film of 2014

[MovieBob]

Friday Box Office: Guardians of The Galaxy Set to Become #1 Film of 2014

Marvel feature will surpass another Marvel feature to become year's top-grosser over holiday weekend

Box-office analysts are predicting that Disney/Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/9615-Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-Surprise-This-Movie-Rocks] to become the highest-grossing film of 2014 thus far.

While the week did see several prominent new releases, including the Pierce Brosnan actioner The November Man and the Parisian horror entry As Above So Below, none of them could challenge the continued drawing power of the Marvel space-opera or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/9634-Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-Kids-Deserved-Better-Than-This] which have been jockeying for the first and second-place spots for most of August.

Also of note: Last week's prominent flop, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/9674-Frank-Millers-Sin-City-A-Dame-to-Kill-For-Review] plunged even further to 14th place. Otherwise, the box-office is expected to remain in a similar spot for the next few weeks, as there are no major releases due until the Young Adult adaptation The Maze Runner on September 19th.


Source: Deadline Hollywood [http://deadline.com/2014/08/guardians-of-the-galaxy-matinees-box-office-november-man-826814/]


[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/movies-and-tv/]

Permalink

 

[rofltehcat]

It is also the first weekend "overseas". I still don't understand why they would wait several weeks to release it on a delay. Surely, a part of their potential audience has already watched (shitty) pirated copies online by now.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

It honestly wasn't that good. Certainly nowhere near the best Marvel movie (Iron Man), and not even the best sci-fi film of the year (that Tom Cruise film with the terrible name).

I wish people would stop supporting this sort of slick, lowest common denominator, sterile action flick. This year's Captain America was typically dire. It was cool the first few times, but now it's crowding out other sorts of action movies entirely. Because the studios are driven by highest ROI, they'll simply keep on pumping out more of the same thing.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I know you love marvel and everything bob but let's face it, it's not beating transformers this year.

Sure most people would agree its the better movie but looking at worldwide figures Transformers still tops money earned by almost double sitting at over a billion earned internationally whereas Guardians is on about half of that.

I don't know why you are saying winter soldier was number one and was then overtaken by guardians when neither movie has anywhere near the success of transformers.

I want good things to do well as well but please don't dillude yourself into false information.

 

[Randomosity]

I know you love marvel and everything bob but let's face it, it's not beating transformers this year.

Sure most people would agree its the better movie but looking at worldwide figures Transformers still tops money earned by almost double sitting at over a billion earned internationally whereas Guardians is on about half of that.

I don't know why you are saying winter soldier was number one and was then overtaken by guardians when neither movie has anywhere near the success of transformers.

I want good things to do well as well but please don't dillude yourself into false information.

I believe he is talking domestic box office and not worldwide. In the domestic box office Winter Soldier is number 1 of 2014 currently and set to be overtaken by GotG. Worldwide is a different matter as you have pointed out though.

(Note: When I say domestic, I mean the United States.)

 

[tzimize]

It honestly wasn't that good. Certainly nowhere near the best Marvel movie (Iron Man), and not even the best sci-fi film of the year (that Tom Cruise film with the terrible name).

I wish people would stop supporting this sort of slick, lowest common denominator, sterile action flick. This year's Captain America was typically dire. It was cool the first few times, but now it's crowding out other sorts of action movies entirely. Because the studios are driven by highest ROI, they'll simply keep on pumping out more of the same thing.

I guess we'll just have to disagree on that. While Iron Man was pretty great, it had a pretty awful villain, and a rather pathetic final battle (imo). While the villain in Guardians was not exactly Loki either the climax was a lot better and the road there even more fun than in Iron Man.

The characters in Guardians were cool and interesting, with Rocket Racoon absolutely stealing the show. The emotional depth they managed to squeeze into him was frankly staggering to me, and still they didnt go all grimdark. There was a nice depth to everything and a great feel good tone. The soundtrack was also in a class of its own. And that opening sequence...nom 10/10

I saw Guardians a second time at the cinema. I cant remember the last time that happened. And I STILL wanted to see it more times.

 

[Alcaste]

I know you love marvel and everything bob but let's face it, it's not beating transformers this year.

Sure most people would agree its the better movie but looking at worldwide figures Transformers still tops money earned by almost double sitting at over a billion earned internationally whereas Guardians is on about half of that.

I don't know why you are saying winter soldier was number one and was then overtaken by guardians when neither movie has anywhere near the success of transformers.

I want good things to do well as well but please don't dillude yourself into false information.

I hate to burst your bubble, but you're "dilluding" yourself as well. Notice how Transformers lags behind on domestic, and Guardians doesn't even HAVE an international value yet? From your own links? Don't talk smack until you're certain that you're right. I know you don't like MovieBob but really, don't make an ass out of yourself while angrytyping.

As far as the revelation of Guardians being the highest grossing movie domestically so far, I have to say it's not terribly surprising. Everything else that's come out has been godawful, so people who frequent movies are seeing Guardians a second and third time. Most people I know that have seen it have seen it multiple times, and are STILL bringing family/friends who haven't seen it with them on subsequent visits. It's definitely a hit, and will continue to be a hit until they pull it from theatres I imagine.

 

[zerragonoss]

I know you love marvel and everything bob but let's face it, it's not beating transformers this year.

Sure most people would agree its the better movie but looking at worldwide figures Transformers still tops money earned by almost double sitting at over a billion earned internationally whereas Guardians is on about half of that.

I don't know why you are saying winter soldier was number one and was then overtaken by guardians when neither movie has anywhere near the success of transformers.

I want good things to do well as well but please don't dillude yourself into false information.

Well I still don't think it will overtake transformers its worth noting that guardians of the galaxy has not yet released in many countries. Most notably that I saw in a quick glance over the numbers from the site you linked Italy, Japan, Germany, and especially China.

China alone earned transformers and absurd 300 million dollars, and while it is in no way likely guardians will match that, as transformers was made partly for China, it will still make a difference. Removing those four countries brings the difference down to the still large but less insane gap of 200 million.

Also to note is the gaps in most native English speaking countries are smaller or actually favor guardians. This means that guardians likely looses a lot more in translation than transformers. This is easy to believe as comedy does not translate well, and the sound track gimmick would not work nearly as well. Meanwhile transformers may actually be better dubbed.

 

[Trishbot]

Well I still don't think it will overtake transformers its worth noting that guardians of the galaxy has not yet released in many countries. Most notably that I saw in a quick glance over the numbers from the site you linked Italy, Japan, Germany, and especially China.

China alone earned transformers and absurd 300 million dollars, and while it is in no way likely guardians will match that, as transformers was made partly for China, it will still make a difference. Removing those four countries brings the difference down to the still large but less insane gap of 200 million.

Also to note is the gaps in most native English speaking countries are smaller or actually favor guardians. This means that guardians likely looses a lot more in translation than transformers. This is easy to believe as comedy does not translate well, and the sound track gimmick would not work nearly as well. Meanwhile transformers may actually be better dubbed.

We'll see, because the overseas markets have been surprising lately. For instance, Japan and China really like the Marvel movies and Disney releases (Iron Man 3 and Captain America 2 made well over $100 million there, and Frozen became the second-highest grossing film of all time in Japan, just behind Spirited Away, and is STILL being shown in theaters, despite its DVD release).

Guardians might benefit from the "Avatar" effect, of being imaginative aliens in creative locales with stunning visuals and a very easy to understand "good versus evil" vibe that avoids politics and appeals to a wide range of people.

We'll see... I'm still shocked Transformers made so much money in China, honestly. A Japanese product, retrofitted by Americans with the most gung-ho American director of all time, destroying the box office of China.

 

[SeeDarkly_Xero]

Many seem to be using a single source to cherry pick data and leave a lot of context unspoken.

According to the same source being used above, Guardians HAS opened in nearly 50 international markets, some even a day before opening domestically and absolutely DOES have a foreign value.
A lot of assumptions get made, but a lot of data is still not in to make certain assertions.
As an example of the inability to accurately assess the outcome internationally yet...
In China, where they may usually like Marvel movies, GotG has only earned $3 million so far in Hong Kong but was also seen on half as many screens as Transformers in its opening week.
So while in that specific region, yes Transformers has done more than GotG, one should note that T:AoE opened near-simultaneously in Hong Kong & China-wide... and GotG had not yet opened China-wide at all. (IMDB lists China release as OCTOBER?)

In side-by-side comparisons of various international markets, the weekly accumulations of both films seem equitable over all (but in this glance I have not accounted for the number of screens showing either,) but there are still weeks to go before GotG leaves those box offices.

So there is a lot yet to be established before anyone can claim international victory.
However, with the solid confirmation that GotG has made more domestically in 4 weeks than Transformers did in 9, we have an acceptable indication of what it would be capable of against Transformers once it is placed on an equal number of screens internationally... but not necessarily that it will (though I totally believe it will) live up to that indicator.
Why they didn't open in all markets on a tighter schedule seems a little odd as a release strategy... but I'm sure there's a good reason of which I'm unaware. ^_^

 

[Ian Suttle]

For instance, Japan and China really like the Marvel movies and Disney releases (Iron Man 3 and Captain America 2 made well over $100 million there, and Frozen became the second-highest grossing film of all time in Japan, just behind Spirited Away, and is STILL being shown in theaters, despite its DVD release).

Japan and China are totally different countries, with entirely different release-schedules (and even rules) for American films, so I'm not entirely sure what you could mean when you say IM3 and CA2 made well over $100 mill "there". According to this unusually well-sourced Wikipedia article no Marvel movie has yet made more than 10 billion yen (roughly 100 million USD) in Japan. Iron Man 3 was outstripped just barely as the highest-grossing film worldwide of 2013 when, in early-to-mid 2014, Frozen got a Japanese release. What this means is that Disney cartoons with cutesy/funny mascots, beautiful songs and a damned-good Japanese dub do well in Japan. That is NOT evidence that Guardians will beat Transformers here or anywhere else, even if the former is technically being released by the same company that made Frozen.

Notice how Transformers lags behind on domestic, and Guardians doesn't even HAVE an international value yet? From your own links? Don't talk smack until you're certain that you're right. I know you don't like MovieBob but really, don't make an ass out of yourself while angrytyping.

Guardians has already had a significant international release (it's not out here yet, though ), so the hopes of it magically doubling it's current gross when it's already been out in most of the world for a month are pretty slim.

It is also the first weekend "overseas". I still don't understand why they would wait several weeks to release it on a delay. Surely, a part of their potential audience has already watched (shitty) pirated copies online by now.

It has to do with release schedules, domestic movies in those markets, which other movies the same American distributors are releasing in those markets, which films have already done well here, etc. We got Iron Man 3 here before America, but both The Avengers and Thor 2 were almost three months late. Toho got the Japanese distribution rights to Godzilla by default, and released it according to their schedule, and they have plenty of their own movies they don't want to overshadow. And as someone already pointed out, Disney still have one of their own film playing in Japan from months ago, so maybe that's a thing.

 

[Dark Knifer]

snip

I had another look at those links and both say they have international box office listings so I figured it had been released everywhere but there are some countries missing so maybe it will be bigger.

Still, another $500 million I don't think any one market is significant enough to push that over the international box office but if it does good for them, market is improving it's standards.

If he was talking 'domestic box office' then fair enough but I'm from Australia so I figured international would be the important one, at least to me.

snip

Also this guy explained it better then me.