"Guardians of the Galaxy" continues to dominate a dismal summer movie season.
The Marvel film topped the box office for the fourth time since its Aug. 3 premiere. "The Dark Knight" (2008), "Avatar" (2009), and "The Hunger Games" (2012) are the only other movies to achieve that standard in the last decade.
"Guardians" also broke the 15-year record for highest-grossing film ever in August, beating out the M. Night Shyamalan thriller "The Sixth Sense." It earned $10.2 million over the weekend and brought its domestic total gross up to $294.6 million, topping last year's "Man of Steel" with $291 million. The film has made $586 million worldwide so far, and still has yet to premiere in Japan (next week) and China (Oct. 10), according to The Wrap.
Marvel announced a sequel to "Guardians" at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, the week before the first film premiered. Star Chris Pratt and director James Gunn made the announcement via video while promoting the first flick in London.
The sequel will debut on July 28, 2017.
Gunn wants to add more of Marvel's female characters into the "Guardians" world as soon as he can, according to Collider. That won't include the much-talked-about Carol Danvers, the current Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel, because Gunn wants to keep Pratt's Peter Quill a.k.a. Star Lord as the only "earthling" in the films.
