In a hopeful sign that the robust spring moviegoing attendance could extend to summer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 stormed the box office with $114 million and $168.1 million domestic and overseas debuts, respectively, for a global tally of $282 million.

With turnstile earnings coming in as the next best North American weekend bow so far in 2023, following the monster hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 spurred optimism that filmgoing is indeed back to pre-pandemic level.

The final installment in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie trilogy, starring Chris Pratt (as Peter Quill), Zoe Saldana, Pom Klementieff, Chukwudi Iwuji, Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan, was written and directed by James Gunn. The 32^nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the last directing venture of Gunn with Marvel.

The weekend numbers – it remains to be seen if the movie will sustain its opening momentum but analysts are hopeful – spell a nice sendoff to the Guardians series. Adding to the appeal of the emotional story of a band of misfits saving the universe (again) is the voice cast that includes Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot) and Maria Bakalova (Cosmo).

With GOTG3’s entrance, The Super Mario Bros. Movie finally dropped to second place after four weekends at the top. But the film still drew an impressive $18.6 million, which box office experts reported as the third highest figures for an animated film on its fifth weekend.

Chris Pratt, who voices Mario in the tale of two mustachioed plumber brothers who somehow get sucked into the video game world, now has the honor of heading the top two box office champions.

Evil Dead Rise, taking the third spot, is also boosting optimism for the post-pandemic boom. The Sam Raimi-produced horror flick, grossing $5.73 million on its third frame, is already surpassing the 2013 original.

The novel adaptation, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., top-billed by Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Abby Ryder Fortson, is struggling. While the coming-of-age comedy drama ranked fourth, its $3.38 million revenues added to a meager $12.6 million total after two weekends.

Opening inauspiciously was Love Again, starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan and Celine Dion (in her first film role), which collected $2.4 million only. The huge fan base of Jonas, Heughan (Outlander) and Dion did not show up for the comedy drama romance megged by Jim Strouse. As a result, the film only managed a fifth spot opening berth.

Comprising the rest of the top ten were, in order: Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 4, $2.35 million for a seven-week domestic tally of $180 million; Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, $1.5 million; Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Air, $1.39 million; Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, $1.22 million; and Sisu, $1.08 million.

Internationally, as previously mentioned, GOTG3 is also a box office triumph. The good news for Hollywood, which has been concerned over the dismal performance of its recent releases in China, is that the MCU title topped the charts in the Middle Kingdom.

The Guardians… finale picked up $28.1 million in the world’s second biggest movie market, buoying hopes that PROC has not completely forsaken Hollywood titles for homegrown fare.

The movie about a ragtag gang of outcasts also performed strongly in Korea with $13.6 million. Other top territories for the Marvel release include Mexico, France and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Mario Bros. Movie has already picked up $637.2 million offshore for a staggering worldwide cume of $1.155 billion.

Box office prognosticators herald these figures from the last weekend as promising omens for coming films, including Fast X (May 19) and The Little Mermaid (May 26).