GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY first 2014 film to pass $300-million at box office

 

GotG

The misfits rule the 2014 box office!

It’s been a rough year at the box office. While the worldwide box office has been booming as usual, the domestic side hasn’t been doing so well. Films like TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION were thought to be guaranteed $300-million box office hits, but that hasn’t been the case. That film has only earned $245-million domestically — over $100-million less than the last TRANSFORMERS.

The box office perked up a little bit this weekend, though, as Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY became the first film to pass the $300-million milestone this year. Just a few months ago, many were questioning whether GUARDIANS would become Marvel’s first major box office backfire. I don’t think anyone saw this coming.

To date, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY has brought in over $610-million at the worldwide box office. Considering it was made on a budget of $170-million, Marvel and Disney must be grinning from ear-to-ear. It certainly helps that this year’s second-highest earner was Marvel’s CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. That film brought in nearly $260-million domestically.

Hollywood doesn’t have many more chances at $300-million this year. THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 and THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES are probably all that’s left for possible candidates. If Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR can follow the same pattern that GRAVITY did in 2013, it could be a wildcard — though I doubt it’ll come anywhere near the $300-million mark.

The way I see it, 2014 has been the calm before the storm. There’s no doubt that 2015 will be a huge year for box office numbers — possibly the biggest in history. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, FAST & FURIOUS 7, THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2, MINIONS and JURASSIC WORLD are all guaranteed to bring in millions. Other guaranteed earners are THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT, TERMINATOR: GENISYS, BOND 24, ANT-MAN and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5. And then there’s STAR WARS: EPISODE VII — I believe that all the films listed above will quiver in the shadow of that behemoth. 

2015 is still months away, so I guess in the meantime, Hollywood will just have to be happy that North America’s been so “hooked on a feeling” since the beginning of August.

 

About the author

NINJA | Ken loves comics, video games, and film -- especially creature features and giant monster flicks. When he's not stalking the shadows as part of the Ninja Clan, he spends his time obsessively collecting ThunderCats, King Kong, and Pacific Rim memorabilia.