Out of this world! Guardians of the Galaxy opened this weekend with a big bang.
The action flick hit theaters on Friday, Aug. 1, breaking records with its stunning debut weekend. Guardians of the Galaxy brought in an estimated $37.8 million on its first day alone, counting a total of $94 million for its opening weekend.
Based on a beloved Marvel comic series, the Chris Pratt-led film easily claimed the top spot at the weekend box office, trouncing its competitors by tens of millions. Last week's top film, Scarlett Johansson's Lucy, landed in No. 2 with $18.28 million, and the James Brown biopic Get On Up fell at No. 3 with $14.03 million.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's live-action Hercules reboot (in its second week) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (in its fourth week) rounded out the chart in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively, with $10.7 million and $8.7 million box office totals.
Also starring Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, and Bradley Cooper, among others, Guardians of the Galaxy broke the record for August releases, giving it the month's biggest bow of all time. The flick that previously held the title of the highest-grossing August film was 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, which boasted an opening of $69.28 million.
Far outpacing the projected gross of $65 to $70 million, Guardians of the Galaxy also brought in major money overseas. The superhero film made $66.4 abroad for a worldwide weekend total of $160.4 million.
Guardians star Pratt, 35, celebrated the movie's success on Saturday, Aug. 2, writing a message to fans via Facebook. "Thank you everyone watching #GuardiansOfTheGalaxy this weekend!" the actor wrote. "We're all so happy that people are loving it. Stay for the credits, not just the awesome post credit sequence but to read the hundreds if not thousands of names responsible for bringing it to the screen. #grateful."
