Weekend Estimates: Thor Ragna-roks the Box Office

November 5, 2017

Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok continues a remarkable record for the Marvel Cinematic Universe this weekend by posting a $121 million opening weekend, according to Disney’s Sunday morning estimate. That’s a significant increase from the $85.7 million of Thor: Dark World, and means that each sub-franchise based on an individual character has had increasing open box office from film to film: Iron Man’s openings went from $102 million, to $128 million, to $174 million; Captain America went $65 million, $95 million, $179 million; and now Thor has gone $65 million, $86 million, and $121 million.

Things look uniformly rosy for Ragnarok. It is receiving an A CinemaScore, which Disney notes is the 13th consecutive A-range CinemaScore for Marvel Studios, and it has a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also has $306 million to date internationally, for $427 million worldwide. In IMAX theaters, the film will gross approximately $12.2 million from 400 locations domestically this weekend, and will have $34 million in the format globally by the end of the weekend. In China, it is opening with an estimated $55.6 million, a November record for the territory. Its other top markets so far are the UK, with $27.2 million; South Korea, with $25.8 million; Brazil, $19.3 million; Australia, $15.5 million; France, $14.9 million; and Mexico, with $10.8 million.

Also looking good for Disney, Coco was released early in Mexico to coincide with the Día de Muertos holiday, and has already clocked up $27.6 million after 10 days—a record for an animated film in the country. Its box office actually increased by 12% from its opening this weekend.

Back home, A Bad Moms Christmas has less to celebrate, with $17.03 million projected between Friday and Sunday by STX Entertainment. The studio gave the film a couple of days head start on Thor by releasing on Wednesday, and it will have accumulated $21.6 million to date by the end of today. That’s an OK start—$20 million was the benchmark figure—but no more than that.

In limited release, Lady Bird is the standout performer, with a projected opening of $375,612 from just four theaters. Its theater average of $93,903 is easily the best for any film released in 2017 so far. A word of warning though: splashy openings in limited release haven’t translated into great runs at the box office this year. The previous title holder, The Beguiled, barely made the top 10 when it expanded wide, and ended up with a shade over $10 million in total. The end of the year tends to be better for limited release films with awards ambitions, but it’s too early to judge how Lady Bird will fare in the long run. It’s certainly one to watch.

Also making good starts this weekend are My Friend Dahmer, with $45,000 in four theaters, and Last Flag Flying, with $42,000, also in four locations. One other notable film in limited release is Jane, which has grown its box office for three weekends running, and passes $500,000 this weekend. It picked up the Critics’ Choice Documentary Award last week, and looks like an Oscar favorite right now.

- Weekend estimates
- Marval Cinematic Universe franchise history
- Thor franchise history
- Bad Moms franchise history

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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Thor: Ragnarok, A Bad Moms Christmas, My Friend Dahmer, Last Flag Flying, Lady Bird, Jane, Iron Man, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor, Captain America, Bad Moms