Marvel must be letting out a pretty big sigh of relief right now. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" not only had a great opening weekend, but it had one of the best holds ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film in its second weekend. Whereas other recent MCU films such as "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," "Thor: Love and Thunder," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" (more on that in a moment) fell off a cliff in weekend two, the finale to the "Guardians" trilogy is proving to be a crowd-pleaser with real staying power. Unfortunately, the weekend's new releases didn't fare particularly well, but we'll get to that.

Per The Numbers, director James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" earned $60.5 million in its second weekend, easily taking the top spot ahead of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($13 million). Meanwhile, that film crossed $1.2 billion worldwide, making it one hell of a year for Chris Pratt so far. Circling back to the MCU, that represents a 48.5% week-to-week drop from the sequel's $118.4 million opening. That's the third-best percentage drop ever for an MCU film behind only "Black Panther" (44%) and the first "Thor" film (47%).

"Guardians 3" has amassed $528.8 million worldwide in just two weekends, making it a resounding success for Marvel Studios and Disney. The only real problem is that competition in the coming weeks is fierce, with "Fast X," "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," and "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," among others, all headed to theaters soon. But that makes this huge win on an otherwise pretty clear weekend all the more important. Most surprising of all? "GOTG3" has already passed the entire global haul put up by "Quantumania" in mere days.

An Important, Simple Lesson For Marvel

To date, director Peyton Reed's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has earned $475.7 million worldwide since it debuted in February. It is by far the lowest-grossing entry in the "Ant-Man" franchise, despite having much larger stakes as the first film in Phase 5 of the MCU (which introduced Kang the Conqueror to the masses). General audiences largely didn't care, relative to what a Marvel film is capable of delivering in terms of ticket sales, which led to a hugely front-loaded opening weekend before an utter collapse. It was a clear sign that the pre-"Avengers: Endgame" MCU where every movie was an event is no longer a reality. Audiences are now on a case-by-case basis here.

That having been said, James Gunn took the "Guardians of the Galaxy" from deep obscurity to straight-up A-list status over the course of his trilogy. The results for "Vol. 3" speak to that. More importantly, critics have, generally speaking, been much kinder to this film, as it holds an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a stellar 95% audience rating. "Quantumania?" It sits at 47%, ranking as one of the worst-reviewed MCU movies ever. Simple though it may seem, the lesson is pretty clear: make a good Marvel movie, and audiences will show up (see also "Spider-Man: No Way Home"). Make a bad Marvel movie, audiences will not show up beyond opening weekend.

The only lingering question is where "Guardians 3" will top out. The original "Guardians" made $770 million worldwide, whereas "Vol. 2" earned $869 million. It seems rather unlikely that this latest installment will get anywhere near $900 million. But somewhere closer to $800 million? That feels in reach and, given that China isn't as much of a factor anymore, coupled with other pandemic-related difficulties, that would be an absolute win.

And The Rest…

Moving on: Focus Features suffered another disappointment with "Book Club: The Next Chapter." The sequel to 2018's "Book Club" earned just $6.5 million, down significantly from the original, which made a surprising $104 million worldwide. With a global start shy of $10 million, Focus will have to hope this one does better on VOD. Fortunately, with a $20 million budget, the studio can recoup its investment over time, but it's not the hit they were hoping for, to be certain.

The weekend's other "big" newcomer was "Hypnotic," a mind-bending thriller from director Robert Rodriguez starring Ben Affleck. Star power be damned, it bombed with just $2.35 million in more than 2,000 theaters. It's an all-time worst opening for both Affleck and Rodriguez, and it was panned by critics (read our review here). The film is also a massive bomb given its $65 million budget. Ouch.

On the plus side, even though it arrived on VOD this week, "Evil Dead Rise" stayed in the top five, taking in $3.72 million. The horror flick has now earned $131 million worldwide against a budget said to be in the $14 million range. Make no mistake, we're getting a sequel and probably sooner rather than later. Rounding out the top five was "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." with $2.5 million. At $16 million domestic to date, this one will go down as a loss for Lionsgate theatrically but could do well on VOD. We'll see.

Looking ahead, we've got a big one arriving this upcoming weekend in the form of "Fast X." Universal will need all the help it can get, as the film has a staggering $340 million budget. We'll see just how much gas Dom and the gang have left in the tank.

Top 10 movies at the box office May 12-14, 2023:

1. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" — $60.5 million

2. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" — $13 million

3. "Book Club: The Next Chapter" — $6.5 million

4. "Evil Dead Rise" — $3.72 million

5. "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." — $2.5 million

6. "Hypnotic" — $2.35 million

7. "John Wick: Chapter 4" — $1.93 million

8. "Love Again" — $1.55 million

9. "Air" — $768,000

10. "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" — $740,000

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