Guardians of the Galaxy Wins U.S. Box Office with $10.2 Million

“Guardians of the Galaxy,” the summer’s biggest success story, ruled at the sleepy U.S. box office with an estimated $10.2 million at 3,221 locations in its sixth weekend.

“Guardians” provided the only heat at multiplexes after the major studios had eschewed opening any new releases — and moviegoers responded by staying away, leading to what’s likely to be the quietest weekend of the year as “Guardians” notched the lowest first-place finish of 2014. The top 10 took in a combined $48 million, or about half of what “Guardians” grossed in its opening weekend on Aug. 1-3.

The only new entry was Freestyle’s faith-based “The Identical,” which showed little traction with $1.9 million at 1,966 sites, counter to recent Christian-driven successes such as “Heaven Is for Real,” “God’s Not Dead” and “Son of God.” “The Identical” came in 11th behind Universal’s seventh weekend of “Lucy.”