Thor: Love and Thunder on Track for Third Best Box Office Opening Weekend of 2022

Thor: Love and Thunder is on its way to the third-biggest box office opening of the year. The latest Marvel Studios movie is headed for an opening weekend in the range of $135-145 million. The film earned $69.5 million on Friday alone. That weekend total is a career-high for director Taika Waititi as well as for Natalie Portman, who is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Jane Foster, now with the power of Thor (Portman’s previous best was Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith with $108 million, a film in which Waititi forgot she appeared). Overall, the opening may fall below earlier projections of $140-160 million but still ranks behind only Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Jurassic World Dominion in 2022.

Thor: Love and Thunder . ComicBook.com’s Jenna Anderson award the film a 3.5-out-of-5 score. In her review, she writes:

Thor: Love and Thunder is undoubtedly a change of pace, whether compared to Thor: Ragnarok, Phase Four of the MCU, or even the larger tapestry of superhero adaptations. The film’s heartfelt and reverential core feels perfect for its crop of characters and for the current cultural moment, but that perfection is hindered by bizarre structural choices and inconsistent CGI. At times, that messiness only further adds to the charm of Love and Thunder and its imperfect crop of characters, but it does stop the film from becoming another game-changing entry within the MCU. Luckily, just enough of Thor: Love and Thunder manages to charm and delight – especially its stellar ensemble cast – to still make it a worthwhile encore.

Also at the box office this weekend, Minions: The Rise of Gru continues to perform well, crossing $200 million this weekend. The complete list of top 10 films at this weekend’s box office follows.

1. Thor: Love and Thunder

• Opening Weekend
• Total: $135 million

Thor embarks on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced — a quest for inner peace. However, his retirement gets interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who — to his surprise — inexplicably wields his magical hammer. Together, they set out on a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance.

Taika Waititi directed Thor: Love and Thunder from a script he co-wrote with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. The film stars Chris Hemsworth,  Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Waititi, Russell Crowe, and Natalie Portman

2. Minions: The Rise of Gru

• Week Two
• Weekend: $47.2 million
• Total: $211.7 million
  

In the 1970s, young Gru tries to join a group of supervillains called the Vicious 6 after they oust their leader — the legendary fighter Wild Knuckles. When the interview turns disastrous, Gru and his Minions go on the run with the Vicious 6 hot on their tails. Luckily, he finds an unlikely source for guidance — Wild Knuckles himself — and soon discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

Kyle Balda directed Minions: The Rise of Gru. The film’s voice cast includes Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, and Alan Arkin

3. Top Gun: Maverick

• Week Seven
• Weekend: $14.6 million
• Total: $596.5 million
  

After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. Training a detachment of graduates for a special assignment, Maverick must confront the ghosts of his past and his deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who choose to fly it.

Joseph Kosinski directs Top Gun: Maverick from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie. The film stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer.

4. Elvis

• Week Three
• Weekend: $11 million
• Total: $91.1 million
  

From his rise to fame to his unprecedented superstardom, rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley maintains a complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker, over the course of 20 years. Central to Presley’s journey and happiness is one of the most influential people in his life — Priscilla.

Baz Luhrmann directs Elvis from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner. The film stars Austin Butler as Elvis, with Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Luke Bracey, Natasha Bassett, David Wenham, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Xavier Samuel, and Kodi Smit-McPhee

5. Jurassic World Dominion

• Week Five
• Weekend: $8.1 million
• Total: $350 million
  

Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live and hunt alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

Colin Trevorrow directed Jurassic World Dominion from a screenplay he co-wrote with Emily Carmichael, based on a story by Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. The film stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Campbell Scott, Scott Haze, and Dichen Lachman.

6. The Black Phone

• Week Three
• Weekend: $7.45 million
• Total: $62.1 million
  

Finney Shaw is a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who’s being held in a soundproof basement by a sadistic, masked killer. When a disconnected phone on the wall starts to ring, he soon discovers that he can hear the voices of the murderer’s previous victims — and they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

Scott Derrickson directed The Black Phone from a screenplay he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill, based on the 2004 short story by Joe Hill. The film stars Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone, and Ethan Hawke.

7. Lightyear

• Week Four
• Weekend: $2.82 million
• Total: $112.2 million

Legendary space ranger Buzz Lightyear embarks on an intergalactic adventure alongside ambitious recruits Izzy, Mo, Darby, and his robot companion, Sox. As this motley crew tackles their toughest mission yet, they must learn to work together as a team to escape the evil Zurg and his dutiful robot army that are never far behind.

Angus MacLane directed Lightyear from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jason Headley. The film’s voice cast includes Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.

8. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

• Week Three
• Weekend: $322,600
• Total: $946,000

Marcel is an adorable, 1-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother, Connie, and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. However, when a documentary filmmaker discovers them, the short film he posts online brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope of finding his long-lost family.

Dean Fleischer-Camp directed Marcel the Shell With Shoes On from a screenplay written by Jenny Slate and Nick Paley, and based on Flescher-Camp’s 2020 short film of the same name. Slate voices Marcel, with Rosa Salazar, Thomas Mann, and Isabella Rossellini also starring.

9. Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Week 16
• Weekend: $255,600
• Total: $67.5 million

When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert directed Everything Everywhere All at Once. The film stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

10. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

• Week 10
• Weekend: $253,600
• Total: $411 million
  

Dr. Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle.

Sam Raimi directed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness from a screenplay written by Michael Waldron. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams.