Box Office: Thor: Love and Thunder maintains the top spot despite a steep decline

Thor: Love and Thunder maintained the top spot at the box office over the weekend, but the film suffered a sharp decline from its opening, which suggests word of mouth is very mixed for the fourth Thor entry.

Thor: Love and Thunder grossed $46 million over the weekend, representing a steep decline in business of 68%. I predicted $50 million for the weekend, which would’ve been a 65% dip from weekend to weekend. The second-weekend drop is among the worst for the MCU. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness declined 67% in its second weekend, while Black Widow and Spider-Man: No Way Home match it at 68%. The big difference is that Black Widow was also available on Disney+, which factored into its weekend decline, while Spider-Man: No Way Home was a holiday player, and Christmas fell on a Saturday during its second weekend. Thor’s second results are largely due to mixed word of mouth.

I pointed to the film’s “B+” CinemaScore last weekend, a notch below most Marvel efforts. That indicated that word of mouth wasn’t on the high-end and that maybe Taita Waititi’s more humorous approach went a tad too far this time around. That being said, even if the domestic business is dropping off faster than expected, Thor’s worldwide take is something to brag about. Globally the film has taken in $498 million, and its domestic total stands at $233.2 million. The film will be a $300 million+ earner stateside, and Marvel will have another hit on its hands, but I suspect they’re a little concerned about the mixed responses for Phase 4 thus far.

In second place, we have Minions: The Rise of Gru, with a gross of $26 million. That’s a drop of 44% from last weekend, and it’s relatively close to what I predicted the film would take this weekend. Despite the arrival of Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, Minions, was still the top choice for kids and families. It doesn’t look like another animated entry really impacted their business. To date, Minions: The Rise of Gru has grossed $262.6 million domestically and $532 million worldwide.

Debuting a notch higher than my predictions in third place is Where The Crawdads Sing, which grossed $17 million. I predicted $16 million for the weekend, but both figures show that the film, based on a huge best-selling novel, performed well as counter-programming for the female audience. Reviews were not kind of the film (36% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing), but the target audience seems to love it. The audience score is 96%, while the film also earned an “A-” CinemaScore. Budgeted at $24 million, I’m not sure how the legs will be on this one in the weeks ahead, but I suspected this will be a moderate hit for the studio and a solid investment in the end.

Top Gun: Maverick takes fourth place with a gross of $12 million, down only 23% in its eighth weekend of release. The film is an absolute behemoth and has defied all the odds for a typical summer blockbuster. There haven’t been any steep declines, and it has remained on the top five box office charts since opening over Memorial Day weekend. The film is now Paramount’s top-grossing movie at the domestic box office, soaring over Titanic’s $600.7 million initial run at $617.9 million, and it’s their biggest global hit as well, with a current worldwide haul of $1.23 billion.

Rounding out the top five is Elvis, with a gross of $7.6 million. This continues to be a shining light of box office success for the older demographic as they continue to come out for the film. There are also stats indicating that the film, in its last weekends, is starting to skew younger as well. All of this has turned Elvis into a very important hit. It will be considered the film that brought older moviegoers back to theaters. Elvis has now grossed $106.2 million at the domestic box office and $185.6 million on an $85 million budget.

What are YOUR thoughts on this weekend’s box office results?