“Thor: Ragnarok” Crosses $200 Million Against Strong Debuts

By Kip Mooney • On • In Weekend Box Office Report Weekend Box Office Report 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT

November 10-12, 2017

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Thor: Ragnarok  $56.6 million
Daddy's Home 2  $30.0 million
Murder on the Orient Express  $28.2 million
A Bad Moms Christmas $11.5 million
Jigsaw $3.4 million

Thor: Ragnarok continued to entertain audiences with its stockpile of jokes and colorful battles, retaining the top spot. Earning an estimated $56.6 million, the sequel delivered one of the best second weekends of 2017. It's now earned $211 million or so, meaning it's already surpassed both of its predecessors in only 10 days. It should leap into the top 10 of the MCU by the end of next week, and will likely finish just north of $300 million.

Daddy's Home 2 debuted with an impressive $30 million. While that's below the original, which debuted with $38 million over the Christmas weekend in 2015, it's a strong opening given the stiff competition. Whether it will hold as well as the original – which went on to become one of the biggest comedies of recent years – remains to be seen. A Bad Moms Christmas, in fourth place, dropped only 31 percent. So maybe there's a way both of these holiday comedies can co-exist.

Murder on the Orient Express debuted well in third place, with a solid $28.2 million. Given that Fox is aiming for a slightly older audience, it's more likely to have good legs, since older audiences don't always rush out to see films opening weekend. It could end up being one of the sleeper hits of the year. Jigsaw rounded out the top 5 and should end up making about four times its budgets.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The black comedy won the People's Choice Award at Toronto and scored an astounding $80,000 per screen.
  • Lady Bird, hot off its record-setting debut, expanded to 37 theaters and even into the top 10, earning $1.2 million.
  • It's been a rough month for Miles Teller playing American heroes. Both his firefighter flick Only the Brave and the PTSD drama Thank You for Your Service have failed to catch on. The former has yet to make $20 million while the latter hasn't even made $10 million despite glowing reviews.

Next week:

Justice League takes over from Thor: Ragnarok as the top comic book movie. And while it's been highly anticipated, it's curious if Wonder Woman's greatness will cause audiences to forget how bad Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad were. I think $120 million is easy, but getting past $300 million before the end of the year might be a little more tricky. Neither The Star nor Wonder will be any threat. Both should earn less than $10 million.

 

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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