Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, now wielded by Jane Foster (actor Natalie Portman), struck another mighty blow for Disney by pulling in $143 million for Thor: Love and Thunder in its opening weekend. The film is also the third-highest domestic opening of 2022, behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at $187 million and Jurassic World: Dominion at $145 million.
Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, now wielded by Jane Foster (actor Natalie Portman), struck another mighty blow for Disney $DIS by pulling in $143 million for Thor: Love and Thunder in its opening weekend. The film is also the third-highest domestic opening of 2022, behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at $187 million and Jurassic World: Dominion $D at $145 million.
Thor: Love and Thunder is the fourth film in the franchise and the strongest opening in the Marvel series. More importantly, the film, along with Minions: The Rise of Gru, which had a $107 million opening, has helped July 2022 beat the same opening box office period in July 2019, even when adjusted for inflation.
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The big July blockbuster film in 2019 was Spider-Man: Far From Home, which earned $92 million ($105 million when adjusted for inflation). What this signals is that, at least in the US, the public’s concerns about Covid-19 risks at large public venues like movie theaters may be largely in the rear-view mirror.
At the height of the pandemic, as lockdowns prevented large indoor gatherings and forced the closure of nearly every public-facing consumer outlet except supermarkets, Hollywood studios were in a panic. As a result, some studios tried hybrid releases, which had major films like Black Widow simultaneously debut in theaters and via streaming television in a bid to soften the impact of closed movie houses.
That strategy proved to have mixed results, but nevertheless kept the public engaged with the notion of big-budget film releases, even if they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, necessarily visit a crowded movie theater to see them. However, in 2021, as Covid-19 vaccine availability bolstered the public’s confidence, Hollywood studios began testing the waters for return to theater-exclusive releases, with promising results from films like Sony $SONY’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
The real box-office test of whether movie theaters are truly in post-pandemic territory will come during the upcoming fall and winter months, when a surge of Covid-19 infections are expected to take hold in the US.
