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After four movies, Thor is still beating the box office. “Thor: Love and Thunder” earned $143 million in its opening weekend in North America, according to studio estimates on Sunday. It’s the best franchise for God of Thunder and another success story of the summer 2022 box office season. Director Taika Waititi’s second Thor movie opened in 4,375 theaters this weekend, starting with the preview on Thursday. It easily topped the box office, surpassing “Minions: The Rise of Gru” to second. Including international screenings, where “Love and Thunder” opened in 47 territories starting mid-last week, the global cume stood at $302 million. “It’s another home race for Marvel,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “There’s never been a Marvel movie that didn’t open at number one.” The Thor franchise has evolved with each sequel, which is both a rarity in the franchise in general but also not uncommon for films in the Marvel genre. The first film grossed $65.7 million in 2011, followed by $85.7 million for “The Dark World” in 2013 and $122.7 million for “Ragnarok” in 2017. Waititi , who also directed “Ragnarok,” which is widely credited with rejuvenating the series, infusing it with humor, irreverence, and leanings toward a larger-than-life metal aesthetic. Critics are mostly positive and the Rotten Tomatoes score currently stands at 68%. According to opinion polls, the audience for the B+ CinemaScore film is male (60%) and 53% is between the ages of 18 and 34. IMAX reports that $23 million of the global total comes from screens. their picture. “Love and Thunder” brings back Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman, who has Jane Foster as Mighty Thor. Russell Crowe also plays Zeus and Christian Bale plays the villain Gorr the God Butcher. It also boasts the largest production budget of the Thor movies, with a reported $250 million. And yet, it’s worth noting that “Thor: Love and Thunder” isn’t even Marvel’s biggest opening movie of the year. That title is held by “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which debuted with $185 million in early May following the box office phenomenon of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Minions took second place with $45.6 million in its two-week weekend, bringing its domestic total to $210.1 million and its global total to $399.9 million. Summer movie “Top Gun: Maverick” ranked third in its seventh weekend in theaters with $15.5 million. With a current domestic total of $597.4 million, Tom Cruise’s film is poised to surpass $600 million on Monday – one of only 12 films to ever do so. The weekend will gross about $236.1 million, which Dergarabedian says is “really impressive.” “Every week, the market becomes what it was before the pandemic,” he said. “This is like a traditional weekend of summer movie season. That’s a huge difference from a year ago.” Summer 2022 box office receipts continue to be bright for both Hollywood and theater owners, up 217 percent from last summer. The full year passed the $4 billion mark last week, up 233% from last year but still trailing the last pre-pandemic year, 2019, 30%. “Audiences are embracing the cinema experience with more enthusiasm,” says Dergarabedian. “By now, every demographic is interested in returning to theaters. The challenge for theaters coming up is just getting enough new movies. “
