Guardians of the Galaxy is a hit! Even though it's not officially in theaters until today, it opened for Thursday night preview screenings last night, pulling in an impressive $11.2 million to become the biggest Thursday opener of not only the summer, but the entire year!

To put that into perspective, Marvel's other big movie of the year, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which has held onto its biggest Thursday opening of 2014 record all through the summer despite being a spring release, only earned $10.2 million that first night of release. And it was a sequel. It eventually went onto earn $95 million its first weekend in release.

Now coming in third, Godzilla earned $9.3 million, going onto take in $93.2 million during the duration of its first weekend. In fourth place is Transformers: Age of Extinction, with nabbed $8.8 million, but managed to take in the best weekend gross of $100 million. Residing in 5th place is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which debuted to the tune of $8.7 million, pulling in just $91.6 million its first weekend.

Guardians of the Galaxy expands into 4,080 theaters today, making it the widest release for an August opening of all time, surpassing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which opened in 4,007 theaters in 2009.

Guardians of the Galaxy is on track to beat The Bourne Ultimatum's August weekend record, which hasn't been bested since 2007, nearly seven years ago. That franchise sequel pulled in $69.2 million its first weekend, with Guardians of the Galaxy expected to pull in between $70 to $80 million. Though if it stays on track with its Thursday night numbers, it has a very slim chance of being only the second film of the summer to crack $100 million. While the hardcore fans have already seen the movie, it is expected to generate more repeat ticket sales than anything that has previously opened in 2014. And the kids are loving it.

How many times will you be seeing Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend?