In its second frame,Thor: Ragnarokhas once again conquered all pretenders to the throne of box office titans.Taika Waititi’s lively, colorful Marvel blockbuster will bring in some $56.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $211.5 million and its global take to well over $650 million. And in between its first and second weekend, the film has seen a 54% drop in ticket sales, which is a smaller decrease than evenGuardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, one of the biggest hits of the year thus far, in its second frame. IfJustice Leagueweren’t coming out next weekend, Waititi’s film might have rode along for a third week at number one, but it will undoubtedly remain in the top five for a few more weeks at least.
Considering the feigned, sleep-inducing maturity ofMurder on the Orient Express, it seemed almost certain thatThor: Ragnarokwas going to rule its second weekend but the battle between the two biggest new releases was not expected. Neither was its outcome, asKenneth Branagh’s amiable-at-bestAgatha Christieadaptation fell toDaddy’s Home 2, a largely mundane sequel to the surprisingly fascinating 2015 comedy. That sequel will end this weekend with an estimated $30 million against the $28.2 million that Branagh’s movie is expected to bring in by the end of today. Though the movie with the bigger name-brand cast, includingDaisy RidleyandJohnny Depp, might have seemed like the more likely hit, the film’s antiquated premise and uninventive direction made a familial comedy with at least one comedic genius (Will Ferrell) as a lead the easy choice, even ifMel Gibsonis also starring in the film.
Still,Daddy’s Home 2has a ways to go to make up a $65 million budget, which seemingly largely went to pay for Ferrell, Gibson,Mark Wahlberg, andJohn Lithgow, and it won’t have the same success in the international market. The same could be said forA Bad Moms Christmas, which came in at fourth with $11.5 million, but that sequel only has $28 million to make up. A thirdBad Momsmovie could easily be justified at this point, at least in the financial sense, and the performance ofJigsaw, which came in at fifth with $3.4 million that brings the total domestic gross to $34.3 million, suggests that another one of these insufferableSawmovies is almost inevitable. That alone is enough to make one happy enough that theThorseries will likely continue on in perpetuity, especially if it continues to get work to major talents like Waititi.
Here’s your top five for the weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
1. ‘Thor: Ragnarok’
$56,600,000
$211,589,707
- ‘Daddy’s Home 2’
$30,000,000
- ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
$28,200,000
4. ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’
$11,510,000
$39,873,626
5. ‘Jigsaw’
$3,420,000
$34,354,093
