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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM, 6TH UPDATE: Welcome to the first of the big comic book-inspired movies on the Big Screen this summer, with Fox’s X-Men: First Class, Warner Bros’ Green Lantern, and Marvel’s Captain America to follow Marvel/Disney’s Thor distributed by Paramount. Total gross for all films is $161M but still off last year’s by 10% (when Iron Man 2 did $128M all by itself). Here are the following Top 10 North American grosses for Friday and Saturday and this domestic weekend in addition to international and worldwide cumes:
1. Thor (Marvel/Disney/Paramount) NEW [3,955 Theaters]
Friday $25.7M, Saturday $23.5M, Weekend $66M
International $176M, Global Cume $242M
Saturday brought in younger and family audiences to this latest in the Marvel Studios productions which earned a ‘B+’ CinemaScore overall, and an ‘A’ for ages under 18. Hollywood was predicting a $60+ million domestic weekend opening for Marvel/Disney’s Thor, with Paramount distributing. The PG-13 Norse God actioner had already made $133M from 56 territories so far with Finland and China opening this weekend. Now, in its second weekend of widespread release on the international circuit, Thor posted a formidable $46M from 12,476 positions in 60 markets for an overseas gross of $176M to date — or global cume of $242M outside the US and Canada — and in only 11 days has already outgrossed the final cume of X-Men 1, Fantastic Four 1 and the first Hulk movie from Marvel. In the U.S. and Canada, the film debuted as the No. 3 Marvel title — well ahead of X-Men and Fantastic Four and The Hulk, which all did around $55M, but nowhere near the $100M+ of Iron Man or Spider-Man. With Universal’s holdover Fast Five speeding to another strong weekend, Thor opened against such stiff competition, even with $3.25M in midnight box office compared with Fast Five‘s $3.8M midnights for its U.S. and Canada debut. But the Norse god took advantage of 3D’s higher ticket prices, including at 214 iMAX theaters domestically, for $6.6M and another 70 screens overseas. Reviews have been good, and British Kenneth Branagh’s direction and Aussie newcomer Chris Hemsworth in the title role of The Mighty Thor earned a 92% rating currently on Rotten Tomatoes. The good-looking Hemsworth allowed for heavy PR to drum up appeal among women with his shirtless clip a popular choice for talk shows with large female audiences who also were targeted with a Royal Wedding blitz. To solidify male appeal, Paramount had spots during the Super Bowl and NCAA Basketball, the UFC Marathon and UFC Fight Night Live Premiere. And, to appeal to the feeble-brained, Thor ads aired on the finale of Jersey Shore.
Thor launched in 1962 and has endured for almost half a century across comics, toys, animated series, and now a movie. Like Iron Man, Marvel thought Thor deserved to be made in its own right and lends a long history to The Avengers. (Aka Marvel’s Avengers Assemble strategy. Expect to see agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., previously seen in the Iron Man movies, foreshadowing the coming of The Avengers). The challenge for Paramount was to market a reverse superhero story: a hero becomes a man. “Our challenge was to emphasize what was unique about his character and define him for audiences,” a studio exec told me. So the TV ads reminded: “The world has many heroes but only one is a God.” This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard with the powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth. Thor was produced by Marvel wunderkind Kevin Feige, with Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, Patricia Whitcher and Louis D’Esposito serving as executive producers from a screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne and a story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich.
2. Fast Five (Universal) Week 2 [3,644 Theaters]
Friday $10.6M, Saturday $12.8M, Weekend $32.5M (-62%), Cume $139.9M
International $184.8M, Global Cume $324.7M
The -62% domestic drop was primarily due to the loss of all IMAX screens and large-format screens which had only been booked for one week. But abroad Fast Five is the No. 1 film in the world for the second week in a row and the biggest international weekend in Universal’s history. It continued its international rollout with No. 1 openings in 44 more territories this weekend for 58 total. Fast Five set records for the biggest opening of the Fast franchise, and was the biggest opening day and biggest opening weekend in Universal’s history in 12 markets, including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Netherlands, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, France, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, India, Vietnam. International grosses were an estimated $86.6M at 6,979 dates in 58 territories and raised the international total to $184.8M. The worldwide total including the outstanding domestic box office of $139.9M will reach $324.7M today.
3. Jumping The Broom (TriStar/Sony) NEW [2,034 Theaters]
Friday $4.1M, Saturday $5.2M, Weekend $13.7M
Sony was only expecting TriStar’s Jumping The Broom this weekend to do somewhere between $8M to $10M on the film that was made for just $6.6M. Hey, if major studios keep making cheap movies like this that do double the predicted grosses, I’m going to have a tough time making fun of mogul tightwads. Pic received an ‘A’ CinemaScore straight across the board — women, men, all ages. “Exits show we hit our target as 70% of this weekend’s audience was female and 64% was over 35,” A Sony exec tells me. Aimed at older African-American women, the PG-13 film focuses on two “Uptown meets Downtown” families who meet for the first time at a weekend wedding on Martha’s Vineyard in what is billed as an ”insightful and inspirational” comedy. The key for Sony was reaching out to faith-based audiences. Bishop TD Jakes, who is a producer on the film, hosted screenings at religious conferences throughout the country. On the media front, Sony worked with TLC on special wedding programming and on tie-ins with Royal Wedding coverage in local markets. There also was strong BET promotion since both the director/executive producer of The Game, Salim Akil, directed the film, and a co-star of The Game, Pooch Hall, co-starred in this film as well.
4. Something Borrowed (Alcon/Warner Bros) NEW [2,904 Theaters]
Friday $4.8M, Saturday $4.9M, Weekend $13.1M
This run-of-the-mill rom-com based on the novel by the same title earned a ‘B’ CinemaScore: ‘B+’ among females, ‘C+’ males. Financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment (The Blind Side) with Warner Bros just distributing, the pic was counter-programmed against Thor and Week 2 of Fast Five and was always expected to open in the low teens. Luke Greenfield directed from a screenplay adaptation by Jennie Snyder Urman. Hilary Swank was one of the producers. Gee, Kate Hudson’s career looked interesting when she did Almost Famous. But a succession of mediocre romantic comedies like this one where two female frenemies fight over the same man (so anti-woman) have made her into yesterday’s news. Sad that.
5. Rio 3D (Blue Sky Studio/Fox) Week 4 [3,708 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $3.5M, Weekend $8.2M, Cume $114.9M
6. Water For Elephants (Fox) Week 3 [2,820 Theaters]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.2M, Weekend $5.6M, Cume $41.6M
7. Madea’s Big Happy Family (Tyler Perry/Lionsgate) Week 3 [2,288 Theaters]
Friday $1M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.9M, Cume $46.8M
8. Prom (Disney) Week 2 [2,730 Theaters]
Friday $794K, Saturday $960M, Weekend $2.4M (-49%), Cume $7.8M
9. Soul Surfer (FilmDistrict/Sony) Week 5 [2,010 Theaters]
Friday $590K, Saturday $850K, Weekend $2.1M, Cume $36.6M
10. Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs Evil (The Weinstein Co) Week 2 [2,505 Theaters]
Friday $433K, Saturday $877K, Weekend $1.8M (-54%), Cume $6.7M
Meanwhile, Summit Entertainment and Participant Media platformed Mel Gibson’s comeback movie The Beaver directed by Jodie Foster in 22 theaters across the top ten markets in North America: weekend gross was $104K, with a paltry per theater average. Doesn’t bode well for pic which expands on May 20 and will be brought to Cannes.
FRIDAY 9 AM: Studios are predicting a $60+ million domestic weekend opening for Marvel/Disney’s Thor 3D, with Paramount distributing the Norse God actioner into 3,955 North American theaters today. Overseas, it made $133M from 56 territories so far with Finland and China opening this weekend. In the U.S. and Canada, the film has been tracking “a notch ahead” of Marvel films like X-Men and Fantastic Four and The Hulk, which all did around $55M, but nowhere near the $100M+ of Iron Man or Spider-Man. With Universal’s holdover Fast Five speeding to another $35M-$40M this weekend, Thor may not be able to capture the $70M it should have without such stiff competition. But Thor is off to a good start with $3.25M in midnight box office, compared with Fast Five‘s $3.8M midnights for its U.S. and Canada debut. Kenneth Branagh’s direction and newcomer Chris Hemsworth in the title role are earning a 92% rating currently on Rotten Tomatoes.
As for this weekend’s other opening films, Warner Bros’ rom-com Something Borrowed should do around $12M (playing in 2,904 theaters) and TriStar/Sony’s Jumping The Broom around $10M (playing in 2,034 theaters). Meanwhile, Summit Entertainment platforms Mel Gibson’s comeback movie The Beaver in 22 theaters across the Top 10 markets in North America and expands on May 20.
Meanwhile, Fast Five continued its international rollout wiith record-breaking No. 1 openings in 20 more territories Thursday. The street racing-turned-heist pic grossed $14.3M and raised the early international tally to $116M. Among the highlights: Fast Five is Universal’s biggest opening day ever in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Netherlands, Malaysia, and Thailand. It is the biggest opening of all time in the United Arab Emirates. Universal opens 19 more territories today.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Crom’s beard! That’ll buy a lot of lingonberry jam at IKEA.
Did the movie really cost $210 to make?
Also, it looks like it’s down to 81% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I wouldn’t think it cost that much. The only reported budget I can find is $150, which seems about right.
It would be funny if Fast 5 ended up topping Thor. Thor is frontloaded as hell. Jumping the Broom is on track to make that much? It cost less than the wigs used in Something Borrowed.
The Beaver: #1 on the Black List, 65% on RT. That is a terrible, terrible score, when you consider that most of the reviews say Gibson’s performance elevated the script.
There was no one well-written joke in The Beaver script. The script was overrated, and unoriginal. No one knows anything, but certainly not screenwriters who are not funny, at least in their writing.
Yeah. But since it’s Gibson bombing no one is going to point out that this is just one more Black List bomb. The ratio of hits a couple (Juno, The Social Network) to under performing flicks that may one day eek out a small profit (films like Hanna and Source Code) to outright bombs like The Beaver, Lars & The Real Girl etc. make the Black List one of the biggest wastes of time and money ever. They should really compile that list, round up all the various scripts and then set fire to all of them so they don’t bring the industry down the way they have been the last few years.
As are two thirds of the Black List scripts — incredibly overrated.
By Odin’s beard! I thought it would be more!
Saw it last night, and it was okay. Lots of visual effects, noise, battles and stuff, but the characters and humor within the film give it life. It has a certain freshness similar to Ironman and Transformers, because those films did have humor and interesting characters in each of the first films.
If Thor makes it to Thor 2, I fear it will lose all its charm like the others have…and, even though it could make lots of money with sequels..the characters will be reduced to cardboard and the films will be driven with even more and more video game effects
Seems like a strong opening is on the cards. Fast five did 3.7 mil in comparison.
So, Thor’s midnight showings grossed slightly less than Fast Five’s. But doesn’t the fact that Fast Five was a sequel mean that it should be more front-loaded? I don’t think lower midnights mean a lower weekend at all. I still think Thor is on track for $80 million+.
Not a good movie, but i think it will still do well at the box office. They were smart by putting this movie ahead of some of the more anticipated summer features.
Looks like an 80+M weekend from the early midnight number, NOT BAD…Should do better on Sat than Fast5 with the kiddie friendly matinee…
I saw it a midnight. I loved it!
Memo to Donna Langley:
Keep a close eye on these grosses before you cast that inexperienced and dull block of wood Hemsworth as the Huntsman in Snow White! The guy is FORGETTABLE as Thor and this film
is definitely going to underperform. Women are NOT pumped up for this picture despite Marvel hyping this as their “sexiest superhero yet.”
@ Interested Observert:
You claim Hemsworth as Wooden? Jeepers. Which film were you watching?
I’m not much of a fan of Marvel flicks, but Hemsworth didn’t just hold his own in this one, he actually topped Portman and Hopkins. He was the PERFECT casting for Thor. Who else would you have suggested to fill this role? An American? Sorry to say, but there aren’t too many American’s that could do the job due to their lack of masculinity.
Other nations have been importing The Beef to America for years, due to what seems to be an alarming trend of local metrosexual actors who have began to dominate the scene over there, forcing Hollywood to look abroad:
Superman is English.
Batman is English.
Spiderman is English.
Thor is Australian.
Not sure if you can spot the trend there…so yeah, call him wooden, but the figures and facts will state something else.
Yeah, but America’s got James Franco.
100% versatility James Franco as well as Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ryan Gosling pretty awesome too with the right roles.
Ryan Gosling is Canadian : /
Actually Batman is Welsh (from Wales)
and Spiderman was actually born in the US but raised in Britain.
I could not disagree more. Hemsworth elevated the film and I was shocked to my core. I didn’t expect a fantasy film to be so grounded. He is a complete a–hole at the start but by the end you just love him. His turn is so subtle you wonder just where it happened. Sorry my friend but that’s talent and charisma and the kid’s got it.
With solid reviews already and a midnight box office slightly smaller than Fast Five I’m guessing the amount of theaters it’s opening in and the 3D factor will push it closer to $70m. Also I think this film will hold up as positive word of mouth will keep the drop offs lower/slower as it debuts strongly and builds towards a solid somewhat of a sleeper hit.
Chris Hemsworth used to be perfectly healthy and physically fit a few years ago and it is absolutely shocking to see what he has had to do to his body for this movie with those disgustingly huge muscles that he has now built. It is worse though, because he has to maintain it for future Thor and Avengers movies.
The ultra-gorgeous Kat Dennings should not appear in movies unless she is the female lead or the main love interest. She shouldn’t have been in this movie at all.
Loki should have been killed off at the end. They should not use the same villain from Thor in The Avengers! Is Loki going to be their equivalent of Lex Luthor or General Zod?!
I hope in this film series, they will include:
Balder, Beta Ray Bill, Frey, Hermod, Hercules, Hoder, Hrimhari, Idunn, Kelda, Thor Girl, Thunderstrike, Tyr, Valkyrie, Vidar, Volla, Zeus.
I look forward to seeing the following villains in future sequels:
Absorbing Man, Atum, Bloodaxe, Cobra, Desak, Ego the Living Planet, Enchantress, Executioner, Fafnir, Fenris Wolf, Grey Gargoyle, Hela, Karnilla, Kurse, Lorelei, Malekith the Accursed, Man-Beast, Mangog, Midgard Serpent, Mr. Hyde, Mongoose, Perrikus, Quicksand, Radioactive Man, Ragnarok, Seth, Surtur, Ulik, Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Bulldozer, Piledriver, Thunderball), Ymir, Zarrko.
Loki is Thor’s biggest enemy. They’re not going to kill him off. I also hope they include Enchantress in Thor 2 or 3.
Honestly, Hulk vs Thor would be the most fun.
Maybe they’re saving that for The Avengers. The two did have at it early on in the comics.
Loki is more than just Thor’s enemy… he’s the villain that originally brought together The Avengers at all, back in The Avengers #1 in 1963. So, it just makes sense that he would be part of what brings together the movie version of The Avengers as well.
Pretty solid opening for a second tier Marvel character.
Agree, is Sub-Mariner next?
Seriously, though, I wish they would do a movie centered around a bad guy.
I’m tho thick of all thith talk about Thor. Thuperhero movieth are jutht thilly.
Still the worst trailer of the Summer…
For a movie getting such positive spin, there hasn’t been a decent promo yet.
Agree, the trailer sucked but saw the movie and LOVED it
“Still the worst trailer of the Summer.”
No, that would be GREEN LANTERN, followed by COWBOYS AND ALIENS.
good numbers..the movie is doing pretty good overseas too
it’s very enjoyable film,maybe one of the best marvel movies
Odin’s raven, these good reviews and solid opening have actually made me excited to see this… I’ll be damned.
(Just, it is now rated 80% on Rotten Tomatoes (92% was early on, on very few reviews)
I saw it here in Berlin. I was underwhelmed. Stayed close to Marvel lore but the Earth parts were boring (New Mexico? Really? Was there a film tax credit thing at work?) and I hated the rushed romance bits between Thor and Jane, and they completely ignored the fact that Lady Sif and Thor are a couple in Asgard. Also, no Balder the Brave, only Thor’s best friend, and they completely glossed over the Don Blake persona. How could Thor learn humility when he still looks like a male model?
PC casting got on my nerves, and I’m black. I go by the Stan and Jack holy texts, Heimdall wasn’t black and Hogun wasn’t Asian, sorry. They got Fandral right, though.
Asgard/Jotunheim parts were cool, and there were a few hero/action bits that I liked. Cameo from an upcoming Avenger, watch for it. 3D was nothing special at ALL. Sucker Punch was three times as awesome and it was only 2D in IMAX (all you jerks should be horse-whipped for bashing it and the genius Zack Snyder).
Stick around after the credits as usual in these movies.
Shocked that Thor rates so high on Rotten Tomatoes.
Roll on Captain America.
Or, since they were dealing with a race from another planet rather than real gods, they figured it did not matter. Also saying they did something different with the casting while saying they kept close to the lore is contradictory.
Everybody knows that the Norse gods were mostly black and asian, I believe that Odin was half-Mexican as well, they aren’t being PC but rather trying to stay true to the Icelandic texts they used as their source material, I suggest you open up a history book Mr. Oldham before you embarass yourself any further!
Here we go. Didn’t take long. Norse gods were mostly black and Asian? I think that’d be news to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby! You’ve got me laughing my ass off over here, Bill H. Are you a comedy writer? Thanks!
If by comedian you mean the typical white guy repeating the same thing you can find in any middle class white neighborhood about race, then, yes, you are both very funny.
The interesting thing is that you do not notice that the entire story is refashioned from Norse mythology to an alien race. Or did you not notice that the story is based on science? Or that, the entire premise of the story is one of aliens? I guess when weighing such cosmic shifts, the most important thing to notice is that aliens aren’t all white.
Thanks no problem, the idea of making norse gods racially diverse is silly; it would be like making Shaka Zulu a white guy, or a movie about Egyptian or Greek mythology where all the gods were Chinese. Such is Hollywood today I guess!
The story was not based on Norse gods It was based on the idea that the Nordic people mistakenly thought of aliens as gods. It was a major part of the story arc.
The whole speech in the middle about Asgard not being magic, but what Nordic ancestors thought was magic, that the scientist doing her research would one day open a gate way to the alien planet, that the Frost Giants were just a different alien race, etc. The fact that the creators made it clear that it would not be magic based. Etc.
Again, to single out race in a movie that took so many liberties with a lot of things tells me a lot more about you than the movie.
Or like making a movie about a white guy being the Last Samurai… oh wait… Or like a movie about a white guy wearing shoe polish being a Jazz Singer… oh wait…
How about, when watching a comic-book movie about alien gods battling in made up realms that feature frost giants, you do this thing called suspend your disbelief. You’re telling me you have no problem believing in Asgard, Jotenheim, and a thunder god that wields a hammer that gives him nearly unlimited power, but casting Stringer Bell to play one of said gods…. too far!
Don’t feed the trolls, sir.
I saw Thor and it was OK, but nothing more. Chris Hemsworth gives a pretty flat performance, but with all the special effects flying around, it honestly doesn’t matter.
Were they non-white in the comic books?
Even in the actual mythology, many characters were of other races or mixed race. There were two distint groups of gods and nine home worlds with different races on them, and they warred and exchanged hostages between them. Why all of these different groups and races should only look like Scandinavians is beyond me.
Did you ever witness a “Norse God” around your corner to be so self-assured about their color and their creed?
Dumbest comment ever. Nobody has ever witness a God because it’s a human creation.
Thank you for the history lesson, I love it when a teacher trys to get the class to smile and laugh.
Hogun has always been asian bro
You lost me at your liking Sucker Punch, one of the worst of the year and I loved Watchman too.
Promos were awful, but at least to me it’s the best Marvel movie so far, better than Iron Man. Smart script, funny, great cast and visually stunning! I can’t wait for Captain America and The Avengers!
Saw Thor. It was OK. Natalie Portman was annoying and the humans were superfluous.
When has Natalie Portman ever given a convincing performance? LMAO Everyone knows she gets all her roles through her tribe Hollywood hook-up.
Thor was spectacular.
The story might have been incredibly predictable and just average (particularly for fanboys who know the Thor mythos), but the CGI and 3D made up for it.
This is the first time that a heavy CGI movie does not make me feel like I am watching a cartoon or a video game.
I enjoyed it more than I did either of the two Iron Man movies.
Good job, Marvel, good job!
(I hope DC’s Green Lantern is up to par.)
Just saw it. Visually, it was awesome and worth going for that alone. Saw it in 3D and had a blast. Overall it’s a really fun movie.
Thor was a fantastic movie. Chris H. Is a perfect Thor. He needed no CGI to look powerful and hot. Very refreshing detail and good direction will give this movie long life in box office and DVD. Bring on the sequels.
I just saw it. It was really good movie. Well made and one of Marvel’s best. I like this more than Iron Man actually.
I saw it last night and I must say that I wish that I had waited to watch it on DVD.
The reaction to the session was very tepid with a lot of booing
and a lot of people paying good money to see this crap.
chris hemsworth is awful.
I’m just going on the word of a close friend who saw it last night. He said it was “F’ing awesome” and that he was going to see it again today. So, I stoked for it if it is that good. I hope he wasn’t lying or I’m going to be pissed.