Weekend Box Office: Thor: Love and Thunder Repeats w/ $46.0M, as 2022 Domestic Total Equals 2021’s Year-End Total

Photo Credits: Disney & Marvel Studios ("Thor: Love and Thunder"); Sony ("Where the Crawdads Sing"); Paramount ("Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank")

If I had a hammer

Last frame, Disney and Marvel Studios’ superhero sequel Thor: Love and Thunder began with $144.1M, the #30 opening weekend of all time.

This frame, it falls -68% to $46.0M, the #75 second weekend of all time.

That’s a sharper drop than any other pandemic-era MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) title to receive theatrical exclusivity:

  • May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-67%)
  • 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (also -67%), though its second weekend fell during arguably the single worst week of Covid-19’s Omicron wave.
  • Eternals (-62%)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (-54%)
  • It also ties the second-weekend drop of Black Widow (-68%), though that film was released day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and Disney+.

It’s also a steeper drop than any of Chris Hemsworth’s title character’s five prior installments:

  • 2011’s Thor (-47%)
  • 2013’s Thor: The Dark World (-57%)
  • 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok (-53%)
  • 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War (-55%)
  • 2019’s Avengers: Endgame (-59%)

Overseas, Hammer stands at $264.6M, for $497.9M globally. Top market totals to date are:

  1. U.K. ($24.9M)
  2. Australia ($21.8M)
  3. South Korea ($21.0M)
  4. Mexico ($19.0M)
  5. India ($14.5M)
  6. Brazil ($13.2M)
  7. Indonesia ($10.6M)
  8. Germany ($10.3M)

‘Rise’ and fall

Two frames ago, Universal / Illumination’s animated sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru led with $107.0M, the #59 opening weekend of all time.

Last frame, it fell -57% to $46.1M, the #74 second weekend of all time. Among the five films in the Despicable Me / Minions franchise, that marked the second-steepest percentage drop, behind only 2015’s Minions.

Now in its third frame, it declines -44% to $26.0M, the #85 third weekend of all time.

Among animated films, it earned the #10 opening weekend of all time, the #18 second weekend, and now the #22 third weekend.

Gru has now earned $262.5M domestically. Through the equivalent point in release, that’s:

  • +62% above 2010’s Despicable Me ($161.2M)
  • +4% above 2013’s Despicable Me 2 ($251.1M)
  • <1% above 2015’s Minions ($262.4M)
  • +39% above 2017’s Despicable Me 3 ($188.3M)

Overseas, Gru stands at $270.1M, for $532.7M globally. Top market totals to date are:

  1. Mexico ($28.0M)
  2. U.K. ($27.6M)
  3. Australia ($24.9M)
  4. Germany ($16.3M)
  5. France ($11.2M)
  6. Spain ($12.4M)
  7. Brazil ($10.8M)

Only Carolina will ever know

Sony / Columbia’s historical murder mystery drama Where the Crawdads Sing sang to a $17M opening.

Sony Pictures’ announcement to the press called this result “well ahead of expectations,” although it was in line with Boxoffice PRO forecasting $16.2M.

Compared to some other comparable 2010s titles, it debuted:

  • +33% above 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ($12.7M)
  • -30% below 2016’s The Girl on the Train ($24.5M)
  • -36% below 2019’s Knives Out ($26.7M)
  • -54% below 2014’s Gone Girl ($37.5M)

[Read Boxoffice PRO’s interview with Where the Crawdads Sing director Olivia Newman here.]

Mach 8

After debuting with “only” the #40 opening weekend of all time ($126.7M), Paramount’s action-adventure sequel Top Gun: Maverick has since remained in the top-10 for every subsequent frame:

  • #8 second weekend of all time ($90.0M)
  • #10 third weekend of all time ($51.8M)
  • #3 fourth weekend of all time ($44.6M), behind only American Sniper and Avatar.
  • #4 fifth weekend of all time ($29.6M), behind only American Sniper, Avatar, and Titanic.
  • #4 sixth weekend of all time ($25.5M), behind only Avatar, American Sniper, and Frozen.
  • #7 seventh weekend of all time ($15.5M), behind only Avatar, Titanic, Home Alone, American Sniper, Frozen, and Gran Torino.

Now it declines a mild -23% to $12.0M. That’s the #9 eighth weekend of all time, behind only:

  1. Titanic ($23.0M)

  2. Avatar ($22.8M)

  3. American Sniper ($16.4M)

  4. Aladdin [1993] ($15.6M)

  5. Frozen ($14.7M)

  6. Chicago ($12.7M)

  7. Home Alone ($12.6M)

  8. La La Land ($12.2M)

Domestically, Maverick is the highest-grossing film of 2022 so far, despite debuting with a lower opening weekend than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Thor: Love and Thunder.

Maverick has now earned $617.9M domestic, $619.4M overseas, and $1.23B globally. That’s the biggest global total of 2022 so far, including Chinese films.

For weeks, Boxoffice PRO has reported that the film has earned a majority of its receipts domestically, a very rare occurrence for a $1B+ grosser. Of the 50 films to reach that mark, only three had made the majority of their earnings stateside: Black Panther (52.0%), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (50.4%), and The Dark Knight (53.2%).

This weekend, though, Maverick’s overseas total finally overtakes its domestic total. 

Top overseas market totals are:

  1. U.K. ($89.7M)

  2. Japan ($67.7M)

  3. Australia ($57.2M)

  4. France ($46.8M)

  5. South Korea ($47.2M)

  6. Germany ($28.7M)

  7. Taiwan ($21.2M)

  8. Brazil ($20.7M)

  9. Saudi Arabia ($18.2M)

  10. Mexico ($14.3M)

Play and paws

Paramount’s animated Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank karate-chopped its way to a $6.2M debut in sixth place, about in line with pre-release projections.

Compared to other comparable pandemic-era animated titles:

  • +2 ahead of July 2021’s Spirit Untamed ($6.1M)
  • -14% behind October 2021’s Ron’s Gone Wrong ($7.3M)
  • -26% behind March 2021’s Raya and the Last Dragon ($8.5M), released day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and Disney+.
  • -35% behind 2020’s The Croods: A New Age ($9.7M), released during the pandemic pre-vaccine.

Weekend comparisons

Total box office this weekend came in around $129.6M, which is:

  • -45% below last weekend’s total ($238.3M), when Thor: Love and Thunder led with $144.1M.
  • +8% above the equivalent weekend in 2021 ($119.2M), when Black Widow led with $80.3M, debuting day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and Disney+.
  • +2% above the equivalent weekend in the last pre-pandemic year 2019 ($126.9M), when Spider-Man: Far from Home led for a second consecutive frame with $45.3M.

YTD comparisons

Year-to-date box office stands around $4.44B. That’s:

  • 3.22x this same point in the pandemic recovery year of 2021 ($1.37B), down from 3.42x after last weekend.
  • -28.9% behind this same point in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year ($6.24B), up from -30.2% last weekend. This marks the highest YTD standing versus 2019 attained so far this year.

2022 also nearly equals 2021’s year-end domestic total of $4.48B, which it will reach or exceed later this week.

The comparison isn’t exact, since 2021 had a significantly limited release schedule from January through April, as the Covid-19 vaccination rolled out. Still, it’s a notable benchmark to achieve on cinema’s road to recovery.

Top distributors

Paramount still leads, as they have since late May, but Universal is closing in on the billion-dollar mark which Paramount achieved earlier this month. Universal is potentially poised to overtake Paramount within the next week or two.

  1. Paramount ($1.06B)
  2. Universal ($955.2M)
  3. Disney ($766.6M)
  4. Warner Bros. ($582.5M)
  5. Sony Pictures ($504.9M)

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates:

Title  Estimated weekend  % change Locations Location change Average  Total  Weekend Distributor
Thor: Love and Thunder $46,000,000 -68% 4,375   $10,514 $233,271,136 2 Walt Disney
Minions: The Rise of Gru $26,000,000 -44% 4,111 -316 $6,324 $262,567,505 3 Universal
Where the Crawdads Sing $17,000,000   3,650   $4,658 $17,000,000 1 Sony Pictures
Top Gun: Maverick $12,000,000 -23% 3,292 -221 $3,645 $617,962,568 8 Paramount
Elvis $7,600,000 -32% 3,305 -409 $2,300 $106,200,411 4 Warner Bros.
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank $6,250,000   3,475   $1,799 $6,250,000 1 Paramount
The Black Phone $5,310,000 -32% 2,271 -288 $2,338 $72,046,175 4 Universal
Jurassic World: Dominion $4,950,000 -42% 2,647 -604 $1,870 $359,709,000 6 Universal
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris $1,900,000   980   $1,939 $1,900,000 1 Focus Features
Lightyear $1,300,000 -58% 1,350 -740 $963 $115,498,750 5 Walt Disney
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On $575,370 79% 153 105 $3,761 $1,695,817 4 A24
Everything Everywhere All At Once $146,530 -39% 170 -116 $862 $67,930,040 17 A24
Gone in the Night $121,000   136   $890 $121,000 1 Vertical Entertainment
The Bad Guys $85,000 -64% 272 -46 $313 $96,553,760 13 Universal
The Bob’s Burgers Movie $79,000 -49% 180 -20 $439 $31,896,686 8 20th Century Studios
Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down $75,000   302   $248 $75,000 1 Briarcliff
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness $72,000 -71% 80 -60 $900 $411,196,771 11 Walt Disney
Fire of Love $63,362 183% 14 11 $4,526 $117,523 2 Neon
The Killer $50,000   56   $893 $72,096 1 Wide Lens
Both Sides of the Blade $37,000 93% 81 77 $457 $67,346 2 IFC Films
Official Competition $24,000 -75% 72 -94 $333 $526,890 5 IFC Films
Mr. Malcolm’s List $21,962 -91% 158 -899 $139 $1,845,495 3 Bleecker Street
Anonymous Club $10,275   3   $3,425 $10,275 1 Oscilloscope
Murina $7,822 30% 10 9 $782 $25,337 2 Kino Lorber
Costa Brava, Lebanon $4,450   1   $4,450 $4,450 1 Kino Lorber
Photo Credits: Disney & Marvel Studios ("Thor: Love and Thunder"); Sony ("Where the Crawdads Sing"); Paramount ("Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank")