Marvel just keeps printing money. Courtesy Marvel
Yesterday, we broke down each major studio’s biggest blockbuster franchise. Unsurprisingly, when it came to Disney, the Marvel Cinematic Universe stood head and shoulders above the rest. The sprawling 16-movie (and counting) series is a money maker of unparalleled proportions that just keeps getting bigger. In fact, the next MCU release, Thor: Ragnarok, is on pace to put up some serious numbers.
The third entry into the weakest MCU series received a jolt of life when the studio tapped indie darling Taika Waititi to direct and now Marvel is reaping the benefits of its wise decision. Thor: Ragnarok opened in 36 markets last week, earning $109 million. After early estimates pegged an impressive $90 million to $100 million domestic opening, recent tracking projections have pushed that number up to between $110 million and $120 million on the back off strong reviews across the board.
Now, Deadline is reporting that Ragnarok should take in upwards of $400 million worldwide by Sunday, its first weekend in key territories such as the U.S./Canada, China, Japan, Germany, Russia and Mexico. To put that in perspective, the first Thor movie earned $449 million worldwide total in 2011 and 2006’s Superman Returns earned $391 million, per Box Office Mojo.
Thor: The Dark World was the first MCU feature to drop in November when it arrived in 2013 to north of $85 million. This proved more effective than the original Thor‘s May opening ($65.7 million), proving Marvel could take advantage of nontraditional blockbuster release dates. Thinking bigger, the industry hopes Ragnarok and Justice League can jump start box office totals after the lowest October output ($539 million) in a decade. So far, so good on that front.
To date, every single non-Avengers sequel in the MCU has out-grossed its predecessor. That’s particularly impressive given how often some franchises peter out financially as they continue (see: The Hunger Games). But with a 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and added value elements such as Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk, Thor: Ragnarok‘s all-consuming success isn’t a huge surprise. At this point, massive box office totals and quality RT scores are just par the course for Marvel.
