Guardians of the Galaxy took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, becoming the biggest opening for an August film. Making $94 million in the US, it beat the previous August opening record holder The Bourne Ultimatum, which opened with $69.2 million in 2007.
The successful opening of Guardians helped make it the third largest opening of 2014 behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which opened with $95 million, and Transformers: Age of Extinction which opened with $100 million.
Made on a budget of $170 million, Guardians of the Galaxy exceeded prerelease sales estimating that the film would gross between $60 million and $75 million in North America during its opening weekend.
The James Brown biopic Get On Up, which also debuted this weekend, landed two spots below Guardians opening at number three with $14 Million.
Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Platt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel. "This is a brand that transcends any character within their universe," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. "The mere mention of the name Marvel is enough to get people into the movie theater. That's somewhat rare. Pixar obviously has a similar cachet, but for Marvel to have four films this year open with over $90 million is amazing. It's unprecedented success."
There have been some disappointments in Marvel’s film release history such as the release of Ghost Rider and Daredevil. But with the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, a sequel has already been announced and set for a 2017 release.
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Here are this weekend’s top ten films at the box office:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy, $94 million.
2. Lucy, $18.3 million.
3. Get On Up, $14 million.
4. Hercules, $10.7 million.
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, $8.7 million.
6. Planes: Fire & Rescue, $6.4 million.
7. The Purge: Anarchy, $5.5 million.
8. Sex Tape, $3.5 million.
9. And So It Goes, $3.3 million.
10. A Most Wanted Man, $3.3 million.
