Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) title Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in 705 cinemas this weekend, and will look to continue the increase in takings from the first to the second film.
The third standalone Guardians film sees Peter Quill rally his team to defend the universe, in a mission that could mean the end of the group.
Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff all return with Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and Maria Bakalova in voice roles, with Screen Star of Tomorrow 2013 Will Poulter new to the cast as Adam Warlock, an artificial being created to destroy the Guardians.
The first film Guardians Of The Galaxy opened to £6.4m from 554 cinemas at a £11,486 average in August 2014, going on to a £28.6m total. This was surpassed by Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, which opened to £13.1m in 632 cinemas at a £20,716 average in April 2017, and finished just beyond £41m.
The two films are the 17th - and eighth-highest-grossing of 31 Marvel Cinematic Universe films to date. Disney will look to 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (opened: £19.5m; closed: £96.4m), also a third standalone film within the MCU, for how interest can be sustained in characters across multiple franchise appearances.
James Gunn returns to direct Guardians 3 having also helmed the first two films. In 2018 Gunn was dropped from the third instalment by Disney, amid criticism of tweets he had posted between 2008 and 2012 relating to paedophilia and the Holocaust. After Gunn reiterated apologies for the tweets, Disney’s decision received criticism from numerous Hollywood figures including Bautista. Gunn was reinstated in March 2019.
Last year he was also appointed co-chairperson and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, with control over films, animation and television projects based on characters from DC Comics, for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Cinemas will look to Guardians 3 for a timely boost, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie – now heading into its fifth weekend – a rare bright spot in a slow start to the year. Takings for the top five weekend were below £6.2m, the lowest level since before Avatar: The Way Of Water was released in mid-December 2022.
Seoul searching
Mubi is opening Davy Chou’s drama Return To Seoul in 51 cinemas. The film follows a 25-year-old French woman who returns to Korea, the country of her birth, in an attempt to track down her biological parents.
Chou’s third feature after 2011 documentary Golden Slumbers and 2016 drama Diamond Island, Return To Seoul debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2022. It went on an extensive festival tour including Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Busan and New York, and was selected as Cambodia’s entry for the 2023 international feature Oscar, making the December shortlist.
Almost one year from the launch of Top Gun: Maverick at Cannes, Trinity Film will look to benefit from the appeal of the genre with Born To Fly opening in 39 cinemas. Directed by Xiaoshi Liu, the action title depicts a special operations team headed by elite pilots, who must challenge the limits of the sky and themselves when testing new fighter jets.
Glasgow-based distributor Conic Film is opening Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s Pamfir in 16 cinemas. The film debuted in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last year and went on to play Karlovy Vary, Melbourne and Rotterdam.
A drama about a decent man who must give up honest breadwinning to help his family, the Ukrainian title also won the Grand Prix and a special jury diploma at last year’s Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, which took place in the Ukrainian capital in December despite the ongoing Russian invasion.
Miracle Comms and Dazzler Media are combining on a 41-site release for William Nunez’s The Laureate, a biographical romantic drama about British war poet and novelist Robert Graves. The film, which stars Tom Hughes, Laura Haddock and Dianna Agron, debuted at the 2021 Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival.
New Wave Films is starting Maryam Touzani’s Cannes 2022 Un Certain Regard title The Blue Caftan in 41 cinemas. The film follows a middle-aged tailor and his wife, who find their relationship turned upside down by the arrival of a handsome new apprentice.
Another Un Certain Regard 2022 title, Lotfy Nathan’s Harka, opens in 11 cinemas through Studio Soho. Following a Tunisian man who finds himself looking after his two sisters after their father’s death, Adam Bessa shared the best performance award in Un Certain Regard with Corsage actress Vicky Krieps.
Further releases include Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney’s Lakelands, about a footballer who gets attacked on a night out; and Icon Film Distribution’s Ip Man: The Awakening.
Guardians 3 will clear out many holdovers from recent weeks; but there should still be space for Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Studiocanal’s Evil Dead Rise and eOne’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry.
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