The film, in which Chris Hemsworth’s Thor teams up with Natalie Portman’s The Mighty Thor to fight a god-killing evil force, has earned $302 million worldwide so far. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that “Love and Thunder” has garnered mixed reviews from audiences and critics. The film holds a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a “B+” CinemaScore from audiences. Now, a “B+” from ticket buyers isn’t usually the end of the world, but it’s a concern for Marvel, as these movies are tailor-made for crowd-pleasing. If fans who see a Marvel movie in its opening weekend aren’t crazy about what they see, that doesn’t leave much hope for long-term box office growth. In short, if you haven’t been able to turn on opening weekend audiences – who would probably enjoy a Marvel movie with Thor reading a phone book for two hours – there aren’t many places to go from there in terms of box office success. office in the coming weeks. For example, May’s “Multiverse of Madness” made $187 million in its opening weekend and also had a “B+” audience rating. Box office returns fell 67 percent in its second weekend, and the film was eventually overshadowed by Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which earned about $600 million domestically thanks in large part to overwhelmingly positive word-of-mouth. Lukewarm reactions are also becoming a bit of a trend for the superhero brand recently, with three of its last four films earning CinemaScores below “A.” So what’s up with Marvel? For starters, the brand may be a little diluted due to Disney+’s glut of Marvel shows. “A downward shift for the Disney-owned unit raises reasonable questions about whether Marvel’s efforts to power its parent studio’s streaming service, Disney+, have helped weaken its output.” Also, the movies that followed the record-breaking success of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” have felt a little pointless due to a lack of overarching storylines. Does this mean Marvel is in trouble? Barely. Marvel continues to be the biggest blockbuster brand in Hollywood with more than $25 billion in box office returns worldwide, according to Comscore ( SCOR ). The studio has the long-awaited sequel to “Black Panther” (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) slated for November, and it will finally pack a one-two punch with the introductions of two of the most notable superhero teams in the comic book world: the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Either way, theaters and Hollywood are more than happy to see a big weekend like this as the industry tries to return to pre-pandemic normalcy at the box office.
