Thor: Love And Thunder scores franchise best debut
The second Thor movie directed by Taika Waititi easily topped the North American box office, bumping Minions: The Rise Of Gru into second place.
This image released by Marvel Studios shows Natalie Portman, left, and Chris Hemsworth in a scene from "Thor: Love and Thunder." (Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios-Disney via AP)
Four movies in, Thor is still bringing the hammer down at the box office. Thor: Love And Thunder earned US$143 million in its opening weekend in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. It’s a franchise best for the God of Thunder and another success story of the summer 2022 box office season.
The second Thor movie directed by Taika Waititi opened on 4,375 screens in North America this weekend, starting with Thursday previews. It easily topped the box office, bumping Minions: The Rise Of Gru into second place. Including international showings, where Love And Thunder opened in 47 territories starting in the middle of last week, its global total is already at US$302 million.
The Thor franchise has grown with each subsequent film, which is both a rarity in franchise filmmaking in general but also not uncommon for those of the Marvel variety. The first film opened to US$65.7 million in 2011, followed by US$85.7 million for The Dark World in 2013 and US$122.7 million for 2017's Ragnarok. Waititi, who also directed Ragnarok, is widely credited with rejuvenating the series, infusing it with humour, irreverence and leaning into larger-than-life metal aesthetics.
Audiences were heavily male (60 per cent) and 53 per cent were between the ages of 18 and 34, according to exit polls.
Love And Thunder brings back Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman, whose Jane Foster becomes the Mighty Thor. Russell Crowe also co-stars as Zeus and Christian Bale plays the villain Gorr the God Butcher. It also boasts the biggest production budget of the Thor films, at a reported US$250 million.
And yet, it’s noteworthy that Thor: Love And Thunder isn’t even the biggest Marvel opening of the year. That title is held by Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which debuted to US$185 million in early May on the heels of the box office phenomenon that was Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The Minions carved out a second-place spot with US$45.6 million in weekend two, bringing its domestic total to US$210.1 million and its worldwide grosses to US$399.9 million.
The summer’s workhorse Top Gun: Maverick placed third in its seventh weekend in theatres with US$15.5 million. With its North American total currently at US$597.4 million, the Tom Cruise film is poised to cross US$600 million by Monday — one of only 12 films ever to do so.
