Thor hammers competition at North American box office
MARVEL’s latest superhero instalment Thor: Love and Thunder enjoyed a summer blockbuster debut, hammering competition to top this weekend’s North American box office with an estimated US$143 million haul, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (Jul 10).
“This is another excellent Marvel opening for a series that started in 2011 and has grown with each episode,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research, adding that the film nearly doubled the average take for a 4th episode superhero movie.
The comedic follow-up to 2017‘s Thor: Ragnarok stars a muscle-clad, self-parodying Chris Hemsworth as the space viking who wields the mallet Mjolnir, but also finds himself pining for his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), whose help he enlists to battle Gorr (Christian Bale), the God Butcher.
Thor easily beat out Minions: The Rise of Gru, which slipped to second spot after a phenomenal opening weekend over the July 4 holiday.
The latest goofy instalment in Universal’s animated Despicable Me franchise about the reformed super-villain Gru and his yellow Minions took in US$45.5 million in the Friday-to-Sunday period.
Holding steady in third was Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick, the crowd-pleasing sequel to the original 1986 film that once again features Tom Cruise as cocky US Navy test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Friday, 2 pm
Lifestyle
Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.
The fighter ace feature, in its seventh week in theaters, has now grossed more than US$597 million worldwide.
Baz Luhrmann’s music biopic Elvis - starring Austin Butler as the King alongside Tom Hanks as his exploitative manager, Colonel Tom Parker - slipped one spot to fourth in the Warner Bros film’s third weekend of release, at US$11 million.
Rounding out the top five was Jurassic World: Dominion, Universal’s sixth instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise, at US$8.4 million.
The latest dinosaur frightfest stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard alongside franchise originals Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
Completing the top 10 were The Black Phone (US$7.6 million); Lightyear (US$2.9 million); Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (US$340,000); Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (US$262,000); and Mr Malcolm’s List (US$245,000). AFP
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
