Thor: Love and Thunder maintained its spot at the top of the box office, despite seeing a sizable drop in earnings over its second weekend.
“Thor: Love and Thunder” is on track to earn $45 million over the weekend of July 17, for a total domestic gross of $232 million. It’s second week sales represent a 68% drop — the largest drop for an MCU film — from its $144 million opening.
Globally, the latest reports show “Thor: Love and Thunder” has grossed over $415 million. This is without the film being released in China yet. It has been reported Love and Thunder is not being shown in the country due to the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and scenes.
The depiction of LGBTQ narratives in China is mostly prohibited, with the country only having decriminalized homosexuality in 1997. However, the Chinese government’s Central Propaganda Department has not made the reasons for the film’s lack of a release date public.
This weekend had two new releases, Sony Pictures 3000’s Where the Crawdads Sing with $16.2 million in estimated opening weekend revenue, and Paramount Pictures’ animated family sequel Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank which had $7.5 million in sales. The two new titles were not expected to beat Universal Pictures’ Minions: The Rise of Gru, who had another great weekend with another $25.8 million in projected ticket sales since its July 1 debut.
Directed by 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.