Box office: “Thor: Love and Thunder” remains No. 1 for its second weekend

Thor: Love and Thunder appears to be dominating the box office again for its second weekend, holding its own against more modest openers Where the Crawdads Sing and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank.

While Marvel’s Thor-Fourquel has an easy way to remain the weekend’s top release, the superhero film has taken a significant tumble since it opened. “Love and Thunder” added $13.8 million on its second Friday, down about 80% from opening day. That’s a hair stronger than Marvel’s recent releases Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (an 81% drop on Second Friday) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (an 84% drop), but it’s steeper Page for the studio, especially when compared to the film’s predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok, which dropped 60% on its second Friday.

Some industry forecasts place “Love and Thunder” grossing $45 million from 4,375 locations in its second weekend, short of original estimates for a second transport north of $55 million. The film should have taken its domestic gross to over $230 million by the weekend, already the sixth-highest domestic release of 2022. Even given the slight underperformance, those numbers aren’t to be scoffed at.

Directed by Ragnarok boss Taika Waititi, the fourth solo installment in Thor’s Marvel journey stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander and Russell Crowe.

Sony’s Where the Crawdads Sing, the feature adaptation of the popular crime novel, is expected to gross $15-16 million at 3,650 locations in its opening weekend, after starting at $2.3 million in Thursday previews. It’s a respectable debut for a female drama on a modest $24 million production budget. Additionally, “Crawdads” beats its original industry forecasts, which called for the adaptation to open at $10 million over the weekend. The film is expected to reach number three in the domestic charts.

Produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Where the Crawdads Sing follows Kya, an outcast living in the North Carolina swamps who finds herself at the center of a mysterious murder.

Critics have largely dismissed the film, which received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 38% from top critics. However, diversity‘s Owen Gleiberman praised “Crawdads,” saying it is “all at once a mystery, a romance, a back-to-nature reverie full of gnarled trees and hanging moss, and a parable of the power and independence of women in a world that is… Man’s will was destroyed beneath the ground.” Audiences were also receptive, with the film being given an ‘A-‘ rating by research firm Cinema Score, indicating solid agreement among general moviegoers.

Paramount’s Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank doesn’t make much of a splash. The animated release debuts outside of the top 5 with a projected opening of $6.2 million across 3,475 locations. The film faces stiff competition for family audiences from Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru and Marvel’s Thor, both of which remain hot releases for multiplexes.

The family-friendly film Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is loosely based on Mel Brooks’ groundbreaking 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles, which traded cowboys for samurai and racial strife for dog-versus-cat antics. The story follows a beagle, voiced by Michael Cera, who becomes the sword-wielding protector of a city full of cats. The film also features the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, Michelle Yeoh and Brooks.

The original release date for Paws of Fury was back in April 2017. Needless to say, it came a long way for the animated film to be conceived as a Sony production before it made the move to Open Road. Now the film will be released by Paramount. One can easily imagine that many of those involved are relieved to put the ailing production in the rear-view mirror. And with an “A-” rating from CinemaScore, it seems they’ve at least put a smile on people’s faces.

Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” wants to repeat itself in second place. The animated spin-off is reportedly grossing $25.3 million in its third weekend, down just 45% from its second outing. The Rise of Gru is currently the fifth highest-grossing domestic release of 2022. It should push its domestic gross to over $260 million by the weekend.

Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick has another impressive success at the box office. The Tom Cruise sequel is expected to fall nearly 24% in its eighth weekend, adding $11.7 million to its domestic sales. With $609 million in domestic box office sales, “Maverick” is now nearing the all-time top 10 at the North American box office. The film could potentially surpass Disney’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($620 million gross) and Marvel’s The Avengers ($623 million gross) in the coming days.

There’s more to come…