‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Still King In Second Week [Box Office]

Hollywood tried a couple of different tactics to knock Marvel from the throne this weekend — a family comedy, and a star-studded mystery — but the king stayed strong despite some formidable competition.

“Thor: Ragnarok” retained the number one spot at the box office with $56.6 million. The movie now has $211 million domestic, which combined with its overseas numbers, brings the worldwide haul to $650.1 million. That puts “Thor: Ragnarok” among the top ten grossing movies of 2017, and makes a $900 million finish more and more likely. The film has already far outpaced “Thor,” and has netted more globally in three weeks than what “Thor: The Dark World” did in its entire run. It’s a massive homerun, and the rare three-quel that has outperformed its predecessors both critically and commercially.

Despite home online blowback about the mainstream return of Mel Gibson, and dreadful reviews, audiences didn’t seem to care, as “Daddy’s Home 2” rang up $30 million. It’s about $8 million off the opening of its predecessor — or nearly 25% — which probably isn’t quite what Paramount was hoping for. Even more staggering, the budget for this was somehow $69 million. All that said, if the holiday comedy can stick around the season and land in the ballpark of the $242 million worldwide of the original, everyone will walk away happy. And in case you’re wondering about the career of Mel Gibson, “Daddy’s Home 2” marks his best opening since 2002’s “Signs.”

Critical indifference couldn’t take the steam out of the starry “Murder On The Orient Express,” which circled the tracks for $28.2 million. It’s a decent figure, and the lean budget on the movie — $55 million — will help this one come out on the right end of the accounting books for 20th Century Fox. Coupled with the figures abroad, the film has already hit $57 million worldwide. Whether it’ll be enough for Kenneth Branagh to bust out of the moustache again in a follow-up — ‘Orient’ left a big, dangling clue for a sequel — we’ll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile at the arthouse, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” started very strong on four screens earning $320,00 for a terrific per-screen-average of $80,000. And “Lady Bird” continued to perform strongly, expanding into 37 cinemas, and cracking the top ten.

1. “Thor: Ragnarok” — $56.6 million ($211.5 mil.)
2. “Daddy’s Home 2” — $30 million
3. “Murder On The Orient Express” — $28.2 million
4. “A Bad Moms Christmas” — $11.5 million ($39.8 mil.)
5. “Jigsaw” — $3.4 million ($34.3 mil.)
6. “Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” — $2 million ($45.9 mil.)
7. “Geostorm” — $1.5 million ($31.6 mil.)
8. “Blade Runner 2049” — $1.4 million ($88 mil.)
9. “Happy Death Day” — $1.3 million ($54.9 mil.)
10. “Lady Bird” — $1.2 million ($1.7 mil.)