Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a big hit for Marvel this year, serving as a sweet conclusion for the franchise and acting as a loving tribute to characters fans have been following for over ten years. It is also likely the last Marvel venture for James Gunn, who’s helmed all of the Guardians films for the MCU. The threequel is wrapping up its theatrical run in the box office top 10, and Gunn shared a sweet post to commemorate the movie.
While some theaters may keep the movie in the rotation for a longer run, GOTG’s major theatrical run is likely coming to a close. The filmmaker recently tweeted a nice message about the final week in theaters, shouting out all of the fans that made movies about a rag-tag group of space explorers a massive success. He said:
PROBABLY our last weekend in the top ten in theaters (after 9 weeks!) Thank you all for a spectacular run! 💜 #gotgvol3
Gunn has grown quite close to the all-star Guardians cast throughout his MCU career, and this was a nice goodbye to such an iconic franchise. The director accompanied his message with an adorable cast picture, which you can see in the post below:
PROBABLY our last weekend in the top ten in theaters (after 9 weeks!) Thank you all for a spectacular run! 💜 #gotgvol3 pic.twitter.com/1EMNiGKeW3July 1, 2023
While some of the Guardians of the Galaxy characters will likely be in future Marvel crossover movies, like Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, this is the last time Gunn will be involved in the MCU. After major shake ups and mergers at Warner Brothers, James Gunn was selected as the co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios. His focus is now pivoted to the new DC Universe, as he’s set to direct Superman Legacy, continue Peacemaker and more for the studio.
However, Gunn left the MCU with a bang. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 got a positive response from critics and fans alike. Our own Sarah El-Mahmoud deemed it an awesome sendoff and a satisfying finale in her Vol. 3 review. It captured the comic essence of the first two movies, while also keeping up with its overall place within the MCU storytelling. Vol. 3 was an emotional affair for many people, acting as a goodbye to various characters and the franchise as a whole. While Gunn may be leaving Marvel, he certainly didn’t abandon the stories and the characters that resonated so hard with fans.
This positive feedback from fans and critics alike led to financial success as well. It remained on top of the box office for many weeks and is concluding the run in the top 10. This followed an underwhelming box office performance for its previous MCU film addition, Ant Man: Quantumania. Despite some lackluster theatrical runs for that and other superhero movies lately, strong box office for GOTG Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse show that these kinds of movies are still drawing an audience.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently still in theaters at least until the end of the week, so see it on the big screen while you still can. You can also check out James Gunn’s other Guardians films now with a Disney+ subscription. For more information on other upcoming Marvel films coming in the near future, consult our MCU movie release schedule.