Summer blockbuster season is full swing in theaters as ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ strikes up $144.2 million.
The 29th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe expectedly took number one at the box office in spite of a slew of negative reviews. One such review says ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ is like “watching a middle-school drama pageant”. As comic book superhero movies rarely attempt to be more than popcorn fueled fluff, audiences flocked into theaters even as the MCU grows stale.
Amid negative reviews there seems to be one positive note.
No one is saying the audience needs to be caught up on the more than two dozen previous movies plus the numerous tie-in tv series/cartoon shows or previously made Marvel based movies/tv shows from other studios over the decades. That flaw was prominent in more recent MCU releases.
Flawed or not, ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ will remain top of the box office next weekend. After that the Marvel movie will face Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror flick ‘Nope’ for the box office throne.
Family audiences did have more to choose from aside from Marvel.
Animated hit ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ took an almost cartoonishly big 63% drop in its second weekend. The popular sequel will have staying power for the rest of July. It won’t be challenged for top animated film until ‘DC League of Super-Pets’ releases at the tail end of the month.
Tom Cruise puts star power in cruise control.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ dropped 52% since last week firmly establishing a third place at the box office. At $15.5 million, the war movie flies just ahead of ‘Elvis’ which took in $11.2 million. The musical biopic of the original King of Rock & Roll is the only non-sequel in the Weekend Box Office Top 5.
Dinosaur sequel ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ rounds out the Weekend Box Office Top 5 with $8.6 million.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (July 8 – 19, 2022)
- ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ – $144.2 million – fantasy (debut)
- ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ – $46.1 million – animated (drop $76.9 million, 63% down)
- ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – $15.5 million – war (drop $16.7 million, 52% down)
- ‘Elvis’ – $11.2 million – biopic (drop $12.3 million, 52% down)
- ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ – $8.6 million – sci-fi (drop $11 million, 56% down)
Total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 is $225.6 million. This is a not-so-mighty 6% increase, a gain of $13.2 million, over last weekend’s holiday take of $212.4 million.