The hammer has been reactivated.
Thor: Love and Thunder, the newest superhero movie from Marvel, opened to a strong $69.5 million on Friday, including a sizable $29.6 million from Thursday previews.
Most analysts predict that Thor 4 will make $140 million to $145 million over the weekend. Disney is being more conservative, estimating $135 million to $145 million. In any case, it puts it ahead of Thor: Ragnarok‘s $122 million debut.
The film is also making a big push internationally, where it debuted midweek and garnered $48.6 million from its first 42 markets through Friday.
With $150 million or more at home and perhaps as much as $300 million worldwide, the superhero movie should have the third- or second-best opening of the pandemic age. Spider-Man: No Way Home, a Sony and Marvel film released in December, made $50 million in preview sales for a domestic opening of $260 million (in recent days, the film exceeded $1.9 billion internationally). And earlier this year, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a $36 million opening weekend with a $187.4 million domestic opening.
Thor: Love and Thunder is projected to contribute to the summer blockbuster box office boom.
