GALAXY TO ENTER NEW B.O. REALM

Space is the place: Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is looking at an opening weekend box office gross of between $140m and $160m, rocketing past the $94.3m the original pulled in on its opening weekend in 2014. Expect it to flip the switch for the Marvel/Disney soundtrack, currently #3 at iTunes.

GOTG2, opening on about 4,300 screens, gives the movie industry a shot at topping $5b in the May-to-Labor Day period, a benchmark that has never been topped. Deadline reports that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 already has critical and promotional steam behind it from the likes of Ford and Dairy Queen.

And the soundtrack, released digitally on 4/21, has already registered 35k in sales and has a projected 30-35k prior to its opening on Friday. The first GOTG soundtrack sold 1.75m units in 2014, and was the fifth best-selling album of the year. Parliament, Cat Stevens and The Sweet—crate-digger specials a few months ago—are ready for take-off.