Disney This Week: Guardians Vol. 2 Box Office, Descendants 2 & More!

By Max Evry

We’re back with another edition of our regular weekly feature Disney This Week here at ComingSoon.net, rounding up the latest news on all things Disney, including news on movies, TV, Blu-ray/DVD, Marvel Studios, theme parks and more. Let us know what excited you most about Disney This Week in the comments below!

RELATED: The Star Wars News Roundup for May 5, 2017

Movies

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Takes in $17 Million at Thursday Previews

Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios‘ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 earned an impressive $17 million at Thursday previews, making it the highest preview gross of 2017. The first film opened to $11.2 million at Thursday previews and went on to earn $94.3 million its first weekend in August of 2014. Disney expects an opening for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in the $150 million range.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 debuted in Korea on May 3 (the Buddha’s Birthday holiday) with a stellar $3.3 million opening day ($4.4 million including previews) for the biggest opening day of 2017, the biggest May opening day, and the #3 opening day ever for an MCU release there. Yesterday brought another $1.9 million, which brings the total to date to $6.3 million with today being Children’s Day holiday.

The film opened on May 4 in Russia with an estimated $2.8 million. The Russian opening day is +41% ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy and only -1% behind Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The film opens in China today and in Japan on May 12. The international gross is already up to $167 million.

Here are the international highlights so far:

UK $27.6M

Australia $14.0M

Germany $13.8M

Mexico $12.5M

France $12.0M

Brazil $10.9M

Korea $6.3M

Italy $5.5M

Spain $5.3M

Indonesia $5.2M

Philippines $4.2M

Thailand $3.9M

Hong Kong $3.3M

Malaysia $3.2M

Other $39.2M

Total $166.9M

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review #1

8 out of 10: “Suffers from being too long, but we love these characters too much to complain.”

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO READ MORE!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review #2

7.5 out of 10: “A petri dish for Gunn to experiment with the idea of family as a construct.”

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO READ MORE!

James Gunn Has Already Begun Writing Third Guardians of the Galaxy

Just two weeks ago, James Gunn himself confirmed that he would return to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and now Gunn is already writing the sequel. He has been having “pretty intense conversations” with star Chris Pratt about the film and with Zoe Saldana about her role becoming even more significant in the finale of the trilogy.

It is worth noting, however, that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to arrive after the third and fourth Avengers movie, not only in terms of release date, but also (as Gunn himself confirms) within the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This week’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 takes place just six months after the 2014 film, which means there will be a sizeable chunk of time between Guardians Vol. 2 and Avengers 4, and thus, potential changes to the look of the team.

Producer Kevin Feige previously confirmed that the Guardians would be “Evolved slightly, in some recognizable ways. But really they’ll be the Guardians and dealing with the sh*t storm they have to deal with.” With Vol. 3 arriving after the two Avengers movies, expect to see a very different-looking troop of Guardians in the trilogy finale.

10 Guardians of the Galaxy Avengers Pairings We Want to See in Infinity War

This week, fans will welcome Marvel’s cosmic misfits back into their lives with James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And while the Guardians have yet to make it to Earth, that’s going to change in a big way when Avengers: Infinity War rolls into theaters next year. The next two Avengers movies are going to close out Marvel Studios’ “Phase Three” films and essentially tie together every movie in the MCU. That’s why Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and the Guardians will all be appearing alongside the Avengers as they collectively take on the Mad Titan known as Thanos.

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO READ MORE OF THE LIST!

CS Video: Chris Pratt on His Return to Peter Quill

This Friday, Chris Pratt returns as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord), with the Marvel Studios sequel serving as a family reunion for the Quill family. The James Gunn film introduces Kurt Russell as Ego, the Living Planet. CS recently had the chance to catch up with Pratt and, in the player below, you can find out when he was first introduced to the songs on Awesome Mix Vol. 2 and what it was like meeting Russell for the first time.

CS Video: Kurt Russell on Becoming Ego the Living Planet

Kurt Russell has played a lot of incredible characters across a filmography that has spanned more than half a century. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, however, he’s taking on his biggest role to date – literally. This Friday, Marvel Studios is introducing Russell as Ego the Living Planet, the biological father of Chris Pratt‘s Peter Quill. How does one even begin going about playing a planet? Find out in our interview with Russell in the player below!

CS Video: Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff on Vol. 2 and the Road to Infinity War

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is nearly here! Hopefully, you’ve been enjoying our ongoing series of interviews with the cast of the James Gunn film, which concludes today with a sit down conversation with stars Karen Gillan (Nebula) and Pom Klementieff (Mantis). Pom Klementieff talks about some of the changes made from the Mantis of the comics to the big screen, while Karen Gillan theorizes on what she thinks Nebula’s next move in the MCU is going to be. Check it out in the player below!

CS Video: Michael Rooker Explains Why Guardians 2 is Even Better Than the First

Michael Rooker and James Gunn have been inseparable ever since the star appeared in the writer/director’s 2006 horror thriller Slither. Rooker has returned for projects like Super, The Belko Experiment and, of course, Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, with Vol. 2 hitting the big screen this Friday, Michael Rooker is back with an expanded role for his Yondu and, as he tells CS, there’s a good reason Vol. 2 is better than Vol. 1. Find out exactly what that reason is by watching the full interview in the player below!

Downey Jr. and Holland Share Photos from ‘Secret’ Spider-Man Shoot

Last Friday, a “secret shoot” for the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming apparently took place and stars Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland shared a few photos from the event, which also included Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan. It remains to be seen if the “secret shoot” in question was additional photography for the movie or part of an upcoming promotion for the film.

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS AT THE LINK ABOVE!

New Avengers: Infinity War Omaze Video with Robert Downey Jr.

Production continues on Marvel Studios’ upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, and Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., along with his protege Spider-Man (a.k.a. Tom Holland) have joined forces for a new Infinity War Omaze video featuring footage from the battle-damaged set. Check out the video below, and click here to donate to the Omaze campaign to benefit children through Downey’s charity Random Act Funding and a chance to win a trip to the Infinity War set!

Watch Official Video of the Johnny Depp Disneyland Surprise!

Walt Disney Pictures has released an official video of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales star Johnny Depp surprising guests on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland! Check out the video below!

Pirates of the Caribbean 5 IMAX Poster Rises from the Deep

Walt Disney Pictures has released the IMAX poster for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

CHECK IT OUT AT THE LINK ABOVE!

Emma Watson Would Love to Do a Beauty and the Beast Sequel

As if Walt Disney Pictures needed any more incentive now that the movie has earned $1.1 billion on a $160 million budget, Emma Watson says she would love to do a Beauty and the Beast sequel.

Watson said: “I always thought that Belle would become a teacher and she would run the library in the castle and open it up to the village. This was where I was going.”

TV

The Official Descendants 2 Trailer and New Music Video

The first official Descendants 2 trailer and a new music video for “Ways to be Wicked” have been released and can be viewed below!

That’s So Raven Spin-Off Raven’s Home Premiering in July

Raven’s Home, a sitcom for kids and families that brings powerhouse star Raven-Symoné back to Disney Channel to reprise the role of Raven Baxter from the iconic comedy series That’s So Raven, premieres Friday, July 21 (10:00-10:30 p.m. EDT), on Disney Channel, and will be available on the Disney Channel App, VOD and Disney Channel YouTube (12:01 a.m. EDT). The linear debut of Raven’s Home will immediately follow the television premiere of the highly-anticipated Descendants 2 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT). New episodes of Raven’s Home will air Fridays (8:30-9:00 p.m. EDT) on Disney Channel, beginning July 28. All four seasons of That’s So Raven will be available on-demand on the Disney Channel App and VOD Thursday, June 1.

Girl Meets World Season 4 Definitely Not Happening

It was reported that Girl Meets World was canceled by Disney back on January 4, 2017, just over two weeks before the season 3 finale aired on the Disney Channel. The Girl Meets World writers’ Twitter account posted that they’d officially gotten the call, and star Rowan Blanchard posted a heartfelt note on Instagram. Then on January 14, showrunner Michael Jacobs told TheWrap that they were talking to other platforms for the show. He said, “We are certainly having discussions, there are some interested platforms. I don’t think ‘Girl should have been canceled. We signed to do four seasons. I thought we would be able to tell stories through four seasons. That’s the way we set it up. It was going to be a remarkable final year. But I understand, things end.”

Unfortunately, Jacobs tweeted from the writers’ account saying that he wasn’t able to find a new home for Girl Meets World Season 4. Check out the tweet below.

Fans were hoping that the Disney Channel show would end up on a streaming service like Hulu or Netflix, like a number of canceled shows before Girl Meets World. Sadly, it didn’t end up happening. The show was a spin-off of Boy Meets World, about the life of a young Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) which ran from 1993-2000. Girl Meets World told the story of his daughter Riley with longtime love Topanga (Danielle Fishel).

Theme Parks

Blu-ray/DVD

Toys

Spider-Man: Homecoming Exclusive Funko Pops Revealed

Funko has debuted several of their exclusive Pop vinyl figures for the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming, including unmasked versions of the title hero and other variants.

CHECK THEM OUT AT THE LINK ABOVE!

New Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Funko Pops

Argh matey! They are back! Funko has released images of Pop! figures based on Walt Disney Pictures‘ upcoming film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales! Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and the pirate hunter Captain Salazar are joining the Funko family as Pop! vinyl being released in June. Look for the Captain Salazar chase variant, Ghost Salazar – A 1-in-6 rarity! You can also collect weathered gold Jack Sparrow, available exclusively at Hot Topic!

CHECK THEM OUT AT THE LINK ABOVE!

Max Evry
Max Evry

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