weekend box office thor: ragnarok

‘Thor’ Ragna-rocked the box office, as was completely expected.  With $121 million, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ made over $100M more than the #2 movie, ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’.  This marks the 17th consecutive #1 movie for Marvel Studios.  That’s 17 out of 17– Marvel has never NOT scored the #1 spot with an opening weekend.  This is also a high point for the lead character, 41% better than the opening for ‘Thor: The Dark World’ and 84% better than the first ‘Thor’.  This superhero flick flies past the openings of most of the others this year to land as the fourth best first weekend of the year behind ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2’ and ‘It’.  That’s right, the Thunder God bested both ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.  But it remains to be seen if its final tally will top ‘Wonder Woman”s, as the competition over the next two months is incredibly stiff and includes ‘Justice League’ and ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’.

At this point though, ‘Thor’ should hang tough for quite some time, as reaction from fans and critics has been ecstatic.  Audiences gave it an A CinemaScore, once again better than either of the other ‘Thor’s, while ‘Ragnarok’ has a fantastic 93% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dave Hollis, Disney president of worldwide theatrical distribution, declared:

Having Taika Waititi’s voice is a big part of what people are responding to. That combination of a great filmmaker, Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito’s great leadership, makes this feel fresh.

The way Thor‘s opening went up, its CinemaScore, the way it’s holding in other countries overseas, it’s a real testament to how these guys have approached the Marvel broader universe. They have such a track record when it comes to sequels. We’ve been seeing grosses tick up between installments: Ragnarok is up 41% over Thor: Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was up 55% over its first installment, Captain America: Civil War was up 89% over Winter Solder. They found a way to build on the momentum in a way that creates more excitement, more care for these characters and interest in their stories. There’s a halo around the MCU, but each movie adds depth to the world around it and each title stands on its own.

Worldwide, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ crashes in at $427M.

Here is the domestic Top Five:

  1. Thor: Ragnarok (Disney/Marvel Studios) – $121M
  2. A Bad Moms Christmas (STX) – $17M
  3. Jigsaw (Lionsgate) – $6.1-6.7M
  4. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (Lionsgate) – $4.65M
  5. Geostorm (Warner Brothers) – $3M

Expect ‘Thor’ to reign number one again next weekend.  ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and ‘Daddy’s Home 2’ may do well enough to push the largely reviled ‘Geostorm’ and/or the Halloween holdovers ‘Jigsaw’ and ‘Boo 2!’ out of the Top Five, but ‘Thor’ will stay put.

But the week after…?

Source: CNN, Deadline