Weekend Box-Office for August 1-3

The following are estimates of the box-office earnings by movies this weekend.

It's clear that Marvel is riding high with their latest installment. Guardians of the Galaxy made an estimated $94 million its opening weekend. This heavily trumped the industry projections, which predicted a softer $60 million to $75 million opening. A talking raccoon and a walking tree in space doesn't seem like it would translate to such huge numbers. It's clear The Guardians have a following. It features an ensemble cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, and Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel in voice roles. Guardians of the Galaxy set the record for biggest opening weekend in August, beating The Bourne Ultimatum's $69 million in 2007. It's also third for the highest debuts of the year so far, only beaten by Transformers: Age of Extinction in June, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, another Marvel movie, in April. Even though it is a Marvel movie, and no Marvel film has opened below $50 million, The Guardians were not the superheroes anyone would expect to have such a big weekend. Names like Iron Man and The Hulk were more recognizable to the general public, and the movie's comedic approach in the marketing was definitely different from what fans were used to. This just shows what a powerhouse Marvel has become after The Avengers.

In second place, Lucy tumbled 58% from last week's impressive $44 million debut, to $18 million for the weekend.  It's a steep drop, but with its mixed reception it doesn't come unexpected. So far it has made $79.6 million, and it looks like it's on track to close above $110 million.

Get On Up, the James Brown biopic, finished third, and opened with $14 million. It's above recent musical Jersey Boys, but it's considerably lower than director Tate Taylor's The Help ($35.9 million) at the same point three years ago. With good reviews it should hold up well in the coming weeks. It'll need to get some awards traction to solidify its future box-office numbers.

The Full Top 10

1. Guardians of the Galaxy- $94 million (debut)
2. Lucy- $18 million (-58%)
3. Get On Up- $14 million (debut)
4. Hercules- $10.7 million (-64%)
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- $8.7 million (-48%)
6. Planes: Fire and Rescue- $6.4 million (-32%)
7. The Purge: Anarchy- $5.5 million (-47%)
8. Sex Tape- $3.5 million (-41%)
9. And So It Goes- $3.3 4million (-28%)
10. A Most Wanted Man- $3.32 million (+24%)