“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” has charted a course to another weekend in the No. 1 spot after grossing $16.4 million Friday in its second weekend in theaters. The Marvel Studios sequel is expected to finish its second frame with a weekend total of $60 million.
If that result holds, it would give “Guardians” a 59 percent drop from its $146 million opening. That’s consistent with second frames for other May Marvel titles like “Iron Man 3” and “Captain America: Civil War,” which also kept their drops to around that percentage.
Globally, “Guardians” has already passed the $500 million mark and will finish close to the $250 million domestic mark by Sunday’s end.
Well behind “Guardians” are two new releases this weekend: Fox/Chernin Entertainment’s Amy Schumer comedy “Snatched” and Warner Bros.’ “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.”
“Snatched” is on pace to hit Fox’s projections with a No. 2 finish at $16 million, but “King Arthur” has fallen hard with a $14.4 million projected opening against a reported production budget of $175 million. Poor reviews smothered what little buzz the Guy Ritchie film had, with critics panning it for adhering to a formulaic origin story of the famous king.
“King Arthur,” starring Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law, currently has a 27 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating and a B+ from CinemaScore audiences.
The outlook is better for “Snatched,” which will draw in an opening in the mid-to-high teens against a much lower budget of $42 million. Still, it’s a big drop at the box office for Schumer, whose 2015 hit “Trainwreck” made $30 million in its opening.
“Snatched” teams Schumer and Goldie Hawn (in her first movie role in 15 years) as a mother-daughter duo who try to repair their relationship during an unexpected vacation, only for things to go horribly wrong when they get kidnapped. Director Jonathan Levine’s R-rated comedy has a 38 percent RT rating and a B on CinemaScore.
Rounding out the top five are two long-term holdovers: “The Fate of the Furious,” which will reach a $215 million domestic total after making $5 million in its fifth weekend, and “The Boss Baby,” which is projected to make $4.7 million in its seventh frame.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” will face much stiffer competition next week from another franchise that voyages into space: Fox’s “Alien: Covenant,” which will see director Ridley Scott return to the horror franchise with a prequel to his 1979 classic.