Following its record-setting debut last weekend in China, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy surpassed $700 million yesterday, with $326.7 million domestically and $378.4 million internationally for a global total of $705.1 million. This is the third Walt Disney Studios release of 2014 to reach the $700 million mark and the sixth in the last 18 months.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the fourth Marvel Cinematic Universe film to pass $700 million after Marvel’s The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It’s the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to do so while also being the first in a series and without featuring major characters from previous Marvel films.
Released domestically on August 1, Guardians of the Galaxy marked Marvel’s 10th consecutive #1 opening, setting an August record with $94.3 million. It held the #1 spot for four of its first six weekends and ultimately became the biggest August release in industry history and the first film of the year to cross $300 million at the domestic box office.
Internationally, Guardians of the Galaxy opened in China on October 10 with $29.8 million, an October record for the territory and Disney’s third-biggest debut there, behind Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Top markets for Guardians of the Galaxy include the U.K. ($47.3 million), China, ($43.4 million), Russia ($37.5 million), Australia ($24.4 million), and Germany ($24 million). The film opens in one remaining market, Italy, on October 22.
The film’s American Music Awards-nominated soundtrack, “Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1,” was recently certified Gold and is Disney’s second chart-topping soundtrack of 2014, hitting #1 on the Billboard 200 in its second and third weeks of release. It peaked at #1 on iTunes in 60 territories.
Director James Gunn will return to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy 2, due out July 28, 2017.
