“Thor: Love and Thunder,” the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, made about $143 million domestically for its opening weekend, according to Disney ( DIS ) . That number is on par with industry expectations, which put the film around $150 million in North America. While not a record-shattering debut or even the biggest opening for Marvel this year — that belongs to May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — it marks another strong opening for Hollywood’s most reliable blockbuster franchise.
The film, in which Chris Hemsworth’s “Thor” teams up with Natalie Portman’s “Mighty Thor” to fight a god-killing evil force, has earned $302 million worldwide so far.
That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that “Love and Thunder” garnered mixed reviews from audiences and critics.
The film has a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a “B+” CinemaScore from audiences. Now, a “B+” from ticket buyers isn’t usually the end of the world, but it’s worrisome for Marvel because these movies are made specifically for crowd-pleasing.
If fans who see a Marvel movie on opening weekend aren’t crazy about what they’re seeing, that doesn’t leave much hope for long-term box office growth.
In short, if you haven’t been able to energize opening weekend audiences — who would probably enjoy a Marvel movie of Thor reading a phone book for two hours — there’s not much place to go from there in terms of box office success in the coming weeks.
For example, May’s “Multiverse of Madness” earned $187 million in its opening weekend and also had a “B+” audience rating. Box office earnings fell 67% in its second weekend, and the film was ultimately eclipsed by Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick, which made an estimated $600 million domestically, thanks in large part to overwhelmingly positive word of mouth.
Cool reactions have also become a trend for the superhero brand lately, with three of its last four films earning a CinemaScore below an “A.”
So what’s going on with Marvel?
For starters, the brand can get a little diluted due to the glut of Disney+ Marvel shows. “However, commercial success is not always directly related to quality,” Brian Lowery, CNN’s media critic, wrote Friday. “The downsizing of the Disney-owned unit raises legitimate questions about whether Marvel’s efforts to power its parent studio’s streaming service, Disney+, have contributed to the dilution of its output.”
Additionally, the films since the record-breaking success of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame have felt a bit aimless due to a lack of overarching storylines.
Does this mean Marvel is in trouble? Hardly.
Marvel is still Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster brand with more than $25 billion in box office revenue worldwide, according to Comscore ( SCOR ). The studio has the long-awaited sequel to “Black Panther” (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) slated for November, and will ultimately pack a one-two punch by introducing two of the most prominent superhero groups in the comic book world: Fantastic Four and X-Men.
Either way, theaters and Hollywood are more than happy to see a big weekend like this as the industry tries to return to pre-pandemic normalcy at the box office.
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