Thor: Ragnarok appears to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s overachiever. The film heads into its debut weekend in North American theaters pulling in $47 million on Friday, November 3rd. The film already earned $14 million on Thursday previews. Originally, expectations were the film would do about $12 million. No one thought Thor: Ragnarok was going to do anything less than $100 million. Conventional movie-tracking wisdom suggested a debut in the $110 – $115 million range. The could very well earn around $120 million.
Thor: Ragnarok may end up being the highest-grossing film in the Thor trilogy, which speaks very well for Marvel’s future in films. Interest in Marvel Comics movies doesn’t seem to be waning in any way, shape or form.
Thor and The Hulk return for Avengers: Infinity War, but everyone knows the new Avengers film is going to be a big hit. What about Black Panther and Ant-Man and The Wasp? Do the prospects for these two films look good? Based on Thor: Ragnarok’s success, few are worrying about those two new films not selling tickets at the box office. Marvel Comics movies remain red hot.
Will this popularity transfer over to the competition, though? DC Comics and Warner Bros. have invested a reported $250 million in Justice League. In about two weeks, all will be revealed about whether Justice League can match Thor’s success. So far, there does not seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for the highly-hyped DC Comics’ ensemble film. Enthusiasm for Thor: Ragnarok snowballed once the initial commercials and trailers were released.
Thor: Ragnarok’s advertising promoted something very important about the film. The feature comes off as fun. Anyone who buys a ticket would be in for a good time. Fans of superhero entertainment couldn’t ask for much more. The tens of millions of dollars spent on advertising the fun and good times of Thor: Ragnarok seems to have hit a mark with audiences.
