After a solid earlyinternational start,Thor: Love and Thunderfollowed with a roaring start stateside with Thursday night previews.Taika Waititi’s second outing with the god of thunder drew fans out Thursday night, raking in an impressive $29 million at the box office purely off of sales that evening. It marks the second-largest box office preview number of 2022, behind only its MCU counterpartDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessat $36 million, and the fifth-largest in the history of the MCU.
Moreover,Love and Thundereasily struck down its much-beloved predecessorThor: Ragnarokin the preview department. That film only grossed $14.5 million in previews en route to a $46.4 million opening day. The new Thor has easily cracked that opening mark through pre-sales alone, which reached $48 million — better thanJurassic World: Dominion’s $40 million andTop Gun: Maverick’s $38 million, though nowhere close toMultiverse of Madness’s $85 million. With domestic projections for the film’s opening weekend sitting at around $140 million to $160 million as part of aprojected $300 million global opening, the MCU is sitting pretty for another blockbuster topper, and Waititi’s about to capture his biggest box office opening yet.
Everything so far points toLove and Thunderovertaking the latestJurassic Worldfilm to capture the second-best opening of the year, assuming estimations about the film’s opening aren’t woefully underrated, as was the case withMinions: The Rise of Gru.Jurassic World: Dominionraked in $145 million in its opening, a number that certainly seems passable forThor, thoughMultiverse of Madness’s $187.4 million will require a lot from the film to overcome. That film was also helped considerably due to being a direct sequel to the multiversal chaos ofSpider-Man: No Way Home.
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The impressive early returns at the box office come despiteLove and Thunder’s less than stellar reception from critics, who currently have it at 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. Considering how successful Waititi’s last date with Thor was (93% critic score), it feels like a step back, even though audiences seem to have appreciated the film overall. The real test now will be to see how the film sticks around in the box office compared toRagnarok.
Led once again byChris Hemsworth, the latest Thor movie also featuresNatalie Portman,Christian Bale,Tessa Thompson,Jaimie Alexander,Russell Crowe,Chris Pratt,Dave Bautista,Pom Klementieff,Karen Gillan,Vin Diesel, andBradley Cooperalong with Waititi himself reprising his role as Korg. That cast is sure to have excited what with the much-hyped return of Portman as Jane Foster, who now takes on the mantle of Mighty Thor, among so much more. Waititi co-wrote the film withJennifer Kaytin Robinson.
Thor: Love and Thunderis currently playing in theaters.
