Thor 4 is the 29th film in the Marvel Universe. After "Thor 3" achieved box office and word-of-mouth, Marvel gave the green light for Thor's sequel. So, how did Thor's fourth film, how did it perform at the box office at the premiere weekend, and did it break expectations?
As one of the most anticipated films of 2022, Thor 4 grossed $150 million in its U.S. homegrown premiere weekend. This makes sense, because each Thor will be bigger than the previous one, which shows both the strength of the Marvel Universe and the audience's love for it. Not only that, the "Thor" series is mainly comedy, so the vast majority of the audience likes to watch it. Unlike the horror elements of Doctor Strange 2. "Thor 4" is more suitable for families, so does this movie break expectations and compare to previous "Thor" movies?
Talk about the "Thor" series of movies. The first film of "Thor" grossed $65 million in the opening weekend. "Thor 4" is one of the most anticipated movies this summer, and the premiere weekend of "Thor: Love and Thunder" grossed 150 million. Each Thor opens larger than the previous one, showing both the strength of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the audience's love for the character. In 2011, "Thor" grossed $65 million in its first weekend, and two years later, "Thor 2" grossed $85 million, followed by "Thor 3" at $122 million.
"Thor 4" is even higher, directly at $150 million. So, I think that's one of the reasons why Marvel let the character of Thor stay in the Marvel Universe. In the international market, "Thor 4" reached $302 million worldwide at the opening weekend. It can be said that it is a particularly outstanding harvest for the role of Thor. Not to mention, the film doesn't really deal so much with the fourth stage of the multiverse. More than that, just Thor's own separate adventure story.
Thor 4 became the second-highest-grossing Hollywood film to premiere weekend so far in 2022. Defeated The New Batman and Top Gun 2. However, this represents the recovery of theaters, and the box office of Marvel movies is also very stable. Because, Marvel's first film in the fourth phase, "Black Widow", was released in Disney and theaters at the same time, and the opening weekend box office was only $80 million. Consider that Thor 4 is expected to gross $140-160 million in the U.S. mainland. So "Thor 4" has met expectations.
The question is how long the box office of "Thor 4" can last. Because the reputation of this movie is mixed. The ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are also very low. So, the box office in the second week may fall. In any case, considering the ratings of the film, even though there were no films that could compete with it in the second week, the film's box office might not be able to maintain such a high level. Overall, for now, if Thor's box office is still very good, we may be able to see "Thor 5" in the near future.