Disney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” is thrashing the competition at the domestic box office, projecting $135 million from 4,375 theaters. That would be a step up from the tempestuous superhero’s previous solo outing, “Thor: Ragnarok,” which opened to $122.7 million in 2017.
If predictions hold, Love and Thunder will mark the 12th biggest debut for an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” ($146.5 million) and 2010’s “Iron Man 2” ($128.1 million). It will also mark the third-highest domestic three-day opening of the year, behind Universal’s “Jurassic World Dominion” ($145 million) and Disney’s own “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($187.4 million).
The fourth installment of Thor’s MCU story is off to a strong start with a $69.5 million opening day gross, which includes $29 million in Thursday previews.
As is the case with every Marvel Studios film, Love and Thunder cost a pretty penny, carrying a production cost of $250 million. And as is the case with almost every Marvel Studios film, it shouldn’t be long before the film recoups that cost in global ticket sales.
Critics have been far less receptive to “Love and Thunder” than Marvel’s usual entry. The film currently has an overall 51% approval rating from top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman enjoyed the turnout, praising Taika Waititi’s direction for having “the wit to see that if you’re not making fun of a Marvel movie while you’re making it, maybe you’re taking it more seriously from the audience.”
While audiences have been warmer to Love and Thunder than critics, the film doesn’t seem to be generating the same level of enthusiasm that greets most Marvel movies. “Love and Thunder” received a “B+” rating from research company Cinema Score, indicating strongly favorable sentiment among ticket buyers. However, 25 of the 28 previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have earned Cinema Score grades of “A-” or higher, with 2011’s “Thor” and this year’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” receiving grades of ” B+” and last fall’s “Eternals” with a franchise-low “B.”
How word of mouth affects the film’s release won’t be known until next weekend, but it wouldn’t hurt to set expectations a little lower for now. Regardless, just taking this impressive start into consideration, Love and Thunder will land firmly among the year’s top box office releases.
“Ragnarok” director Waititi returns with “Love and Thunder,” starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, his love interest, who also takes the title of Thor in this film. In this chapter of the Thor story, the former must unite to defeat Horus, the butcher god played by Christian Bale.
Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” should fall to second place in its second release. The studio is projecting a profit of $47.2 million, down 56% from its stellar debut of $107 million.
The spinoff of the chatty yellow Tic Tac creatures is already the biggest animated release at the box office since 2019’s “Frozen II.” The Illumination production should push its domestic gross past $200 million over the weekend.
Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” continues to hold steady, with the studio predicting a 44% drop for the Tom Cruise sequel in its seventh weekend. This weekend, the film should push its domestic haul to $596 million, inching ever closer to becoming the 12th release to ever cross $600 million in North America.
Across all domestic box office charts, “Maverick” currently sits within striking distance of Disney’s “Phenomenal 2,” which ended its run domestically with a $608 million cume. The Paramount release then looks set to break into the all-time top 10 as it looks to surpass Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($608 million) and The Avengers ($620 million). For now, “Maverick” will have to settle for being the highest-grossing release of 2022 at the global box office.
“Elvis” should take fourth place for the weekend. The Warner Bros. biopic is expected to drop a respectable 38% in its third Friday, adding $3.3 million to its haul. The Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic will surpass $90 million domestically by Sunday. “Elvis” could overtake Paramount’s “The Lost City,” which earned $105 million domestically to become the year’s biggest North American release without ties to an existing franchise (though the film is essentially about how Presley became a franchise in his own right).
Universal’s “Jurassic World Dominion” looks to round out the top five, dropping 50% in its fifth weekend of release. The Dino-sequel will hit $350 million domestically in the coming days. It now seems unlikely that “Dominion” will be able to match the $417 million North American gross of its predecessor, 2018’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” However, the film is closing in on Warner Bros. “The Batman” ($369 million) will become one of the three biggest domestic releases of the year.
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