'Thor: Love and Thunder' hammers box office with $143M opening

Thor: Love and Thunder (NYSE:DIS) hammered the box office with the franchise's best opening yet, becoming the top draw at North American movie theaters and setting up a blockbuster battle for the rest of July's moviegoer dollars.

The film opened to $143M, keeping up a healthy buzz not only for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also for tentpole releases in general this summer. It fell short of the $187M May opening of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (DIS), but topped the opening of Thor: Ragnarok, which debuted with $122.7M in 2017.

As expected, it was trailed by Minions: The Rise of Gru (NASDAQ:CMCSA), which fell off about 57% to $45.6M - but stretched its domestic cumulative gross to $189.8M, and is on the edge of $400M worldwide.

And while Top Gun: Maverick (NASDAQ:PARA) (PARAA) saw an uncharacteristic 40% week-over-week drop in business - to $15.5M, good enough for third place on the weekend - that came in the film's seventh week of release. At $597M domestic, the year's top film is knocking on the $600M door, and another couple of weeks is likely to push it past $620M and into the all-time top 10.

Internationally, Maverick has added another $586.2M to reach a worldwide total of $1.184B. (It's made Paramount (PARA) (PARAA) the best-performing studio so far.)

The top five was rounded out by Elvis (WBD), with $11M in its third week pushing it closer to a total $100M, and Jurassic World Dominion (CMCSA), which dropped off to $8.4M in its fifth week but passed the $350M cumulative mark.

And don't be surprised to see that top five continuing to make bank for a few more weeks, as the pace of summer blockbuster releases starts to fall off. Next weekend's wide releases bring a drama adaptation with Where the Crawdads Sing (SONY); a light comedy in Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (A24), and a modest family film entry in Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (PARA) (PARAA).

On the exhibitor side of the equation, that blockbuster stack-up led AMC Entertainment (AMC) to lay claim to its busiest weekend of the year at home and abroad. The theater's global admissions revenue outpaced the same weekend in 2019 by about 12% (and 14% domestically), the company says, with more than 5.9M moviegoers. With the broad market lower, AMC is still -2.2% Monday.

And blockbuster-friendly IMAX (IMAX) drew $23M worldwide with showings of Thor: Love and Thunder, with $13.8M in North America (about 10% of domestic box office). That meant $9.2M in international IMAX box office.

Other exhibitors: Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWF); Cinemark (CNK); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (OTCPK:CPXGF); National CineMedia (NCMI).

Comments

[karondongotbanned]

TSLA, GME and AMC are the est stock hedge against ifnlation. al are up while rest of the markets are down. LONG AMC at 30 a share

[Clark158f1]

@karondongotbanned

You will be glad you bought AMC & GME. Both will rocket higher. Keep buying when you are able. You really can't lose.

[karondongotbanned]

@Clark158f1 you are right, i been holding at GME 140, doing quite well.

[Clark158f1]

@karondongotbanned

$ 144's may be a short term top.....I am expecting a drop after the stock split as some holders will sell a portion of their shares based on experience of other stocks that have split.

Just food for thought. No point in giving back your profits.

[apple long]

CNK could easily be acquired for 3B when the paramount 2-year sunset period ends in about 25 days.
3B is nothing to Apple, Amazon, Netflix, or Comcast. Owning a theater for any high profile streaming services opens the ability to offer concurrent theatrical options for not just tent pole movies, but also series based content. You can't tell me millions of Stranger things fans wouldn't line up to see the final season on the big screen or at least the final episode with other fans.
To the 21% CNK short interest, good luck sleeping at night!

[anderdan11]

@apple long if streamers wanted to release shows like stranger things to theatres they could allow cinemark to show them for a cut of the tickets just like they do with movies already. Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?

[nerd_rage]

@apple long NFLX could experiment I guess but they'd be taking the risk of a high profile failure. If they want to boost the social component of their fandoms, why not use their own app?

Something as simple as a comment section like this one, accessible from the Stranger Things menu, would be a good start. Then you can yak with fans from around the world without getting off the couch.

Odd that none of the streamers have made any attempts to create this. I guess they're scared of the troll factor. Pretty soon the "groomer" people would invade, blech.

[Jamie Samans]

@anderdan11 because of exclusivity and the ability to drive a premium product end-to-end. The argument you're making is one pathway. Look back at the history of Apple, in particular, and you'll see the other path always taken: more centralization of control, more end-to-end product focus, even though building the central component and letting others do the generalized work for both hardware and software was easier and ultimately the bigger idea. It played out in the Mac/PC competition and again in the iPhone/Android competition, and Apple prefers its model. It's not necessarily better. It is different.

[Clark158f1]

AMC rocking....seems APES never learn. Lets hope they keep buying all the way to $ 20 ++

[OverTheHorizon]

Box office on a tear:

www.cnbc.com/...

[It Is All About The Timing]

@OverTheHorizon buy $CNK. Got it. 😜

[TommyIrish]

@OverTheHorizon

"Box office on a tear"

Almost back to pre-Covid levels but AMC lost money before Covid!

THEN traded for $3 BUT now with 4 times more outstanding stock and bleeding $400 million in cash last quarter.

Only bull point?

That the stock is so worthless that there will be a short-squeeze!

Planet of the Apes...

[Harvey Cotton]

Where my Go Woke, Go Broke peeps at? 🤣🤣

[xamd]

@Harvey Cotton
sleeping

[Seeking more alpha than you]

@Harvey Cotton exactly! Social media outrage should never be taken seriously.

[Joe_G]

@Harvey Cotton
They're yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off their lawn.

[CO Long]

Seems like a lot of troll comments.

The initial box office is the greatest for a Thor movie.

Theaters have been packed the last few weeks.

Concession lines are growing.

People still want to have an evening out, and watch a film on a huge screen with other fans.

All positive signs while we are dealing with high inflation.

[Jamie Samans]

@CO Long I agree. Social media gives everyone an outsized voice, and the clustering of a handful of people can seem like a commanding presence. There are, doubtless, a lot of people out there in the U.S. population of 300+ million who prefer to stream movies at home. They're often, though not always, the sort of people who have extra space for a dedicated viewing room, which they've outfitted with a really big television, premium sound system, ambient lighting, and recliner seats; some have their own oil poppers. Such people aren't choosing to stay home and stream; they've shifted their business to a theater that they own, which produces no revenue and is sustained by their other income. *shrugs* Good on them, but such people don't seem to often realize that many of us lack these advantages and that the "stay home and stream" idea looks more like watching a movie on a smartphone or in the middle of the living room. That makes it no more or less appealing today than staying home watching a movie ever was, and while that has its place, it's not a replacement for the cinema experience. As you say, "going to the movies" is in large part about GOING, just like we go to bars despite being able to stock liquor in our own homes and drink it at a fraction of the cost. It's not just the mixology. Heck, I order well rum and Diet Coke most of the time when I'm at a bar, hardly a skill experience. Being out is something different from being in, and people like it. Now, we just have to endure the second half of the year's gap of major new content as the studios start to get the message.

[nsolot]

@Jamie Samans Agree. It's all about choices.

One can chose to go to the big game (e.g. football, basketball, baseball, etc.) and pay $$$ for tickets, parking, food, SWAG, etc. Or go to a sports bar at a much lower cost, or watch at home for the lowest cost.

"Stay home and stream" is huge. Nobody argues that, but I find the notion that it is the death of the movie theatre funny. Before the movie theatre, it would have killed off live theatre already, however there are plenty of people willing to spend BIG $$$$ to get to NYC (or another theatre district) pay for a hotel room, and then pay $$$ for theatre tickets.

Choices, they're great!

[financeminister]

Looks like I'll be watching this on my big screen from a site based in China

[nerd_rage]

China is banning it because the villain is teh gay!

www.hollywoodreporter.com/...

Wokey woke woke. You guys are lining up with wonderful societies like China and Saudi Arabia. Go right ahead. Not that I'm watching this movie but that's because I find Taika Waititi's stuff to be too puerile, usually.

And now the rumors are that he's doing a Star Wars flick. Maybe he'll revive Snoke and give him a boyfriend.

[Stomp!]

@nerd_rage At least China is honest about what they think and
they act accordingly.

[xamd]

@Stomp!
It seems to me China is worried kids will know way more about Marvel Universe than Mao Tse Tung and the Communist party. They cant have that. Oops, now I ll be banned from China for making a disparaging remark.
Real transparency? "Dr Strange had a picture of a Taiwanese newspaper" so Bei jing didnt like that. WOW, talk about censorship.

[Stomp!]

@xamd Just like the old USSR.....

[ForestFromTrees]

Embarrassing movie. The IMDb reviews of folks who wasted their money on this flick are giving it a good hammering.

[Stakov]

So it flopped? Sure it did great for a Thor movie, but that’s like being the best loser, and when compared to other popular franchises it fell short.

[Code Talker Market Analysis]

Don't bother watching Thor. It is a dumb movie. Can tell by the previews.

[nerd_rage]

@Code Talker Market Analysis Yeah I'm not in love with Marvel's new direction on the big screen. Doctor Strange is just a noisy mess and Taika Waititi's stuff is sloppy and silly. But none of this has to do with characters being gay.

[Code Talker Market Analysis]

@nerd_rage I agree. While I like more diversity (which allows for different directions in storytelling, more interesting plot lines), I don't think it in and of itself improves story. They need to divert their CGI budgets to more screenplay writing, character development, and better plots.

[ckarabin]

So AMC is back to their 2019 numbers! Whoopee! In 2019 they lost $149MM and had free cash flow of $60MM which would be about 12 cents a share today. And they are doing this with a spectacular run of numerous blockbusters that were stored up by the studios until covid faded, perhaps not representative of long run demand. So at best, the break even on free cash flow. But I will give them this, they have $1.6B in cash on hand, although they got that along with a NEGATIVE shareholder equity of $1.7B. $10.2B long term debt, this company os owned and run for the benefit of those debt holders.

[Xander21]

@ckarabin watchu talkin bout willis...currently 2022 ytd is still down 2 billion from 2019 ytd.

[anderdan11]

@ckarabin they don’t have 1.6 billion in cash. That being said you have hit the mail on the head… even with this great run and if it was to continue they would cashflow like .12 per share. Even at 3.00 a share that would be a ridiculous multiple. Because of the loyal ape investor base maybe the stock stays higher for longer, but at the end of the day they will get bored and this stock will eventually go below 1.00 and have some kind of enormous reverse split and/ or Reorganization. For what it is worth I hope it stays this way for another year or two.

[ckarabin]

@anderdan11 Yes, they had $1.6B at year end and it was down to $1.19B at end of Q1.

[Horhay]

who is going to see these movies??

[HavingFunToday]

@Horhay based on those numbers a lot of people

[nerd_rage]

@Horhay Young males, Marvel fans, the usual. Not me, but I'm unusually fussy. I've stopped even watching most of Marvel movies on streaming. I do like their series sometimes - WandaVision, Loki and Moon Knight are colorful, engaging and creative. Sometimes a bit on the gay side just fair warning.

[The Dividend Dude]

How many times can people pay to see the same tired Marvel formula?

[thehip]

@The Dividend Dude It is baffling, they just can't get enough.

[Archman Investor]

@The Dividend Dude
One only has to stand off to the side in any mall, any clothes outlet, etc., just look and listen to the average American.

The answer you are looking for will present itself without you having to do a thing.

[Stakov]

@The Dividend Dude don’t ask questions, just consume product.

[Dobbs99]

The symbol DIS has been changed to WOKE

[alnelson2004]

@Dobbs99 Stretch and woke up This morning.

[RealRural]

@Dobbs99 FYI: WOKE is the favorite buzzword for when you’re thinking with body parts other than the brain.

[xamd]

@RealRural
That would be the typing fingers you mean. Typing fingers can move much faster than the thinking brain, as I can tell from many posters here.