One of the newest films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Thor: Love and Thunder officially releases in theaters starting July 6, 2022. According to Disney (DIS), until last weekend, the film had managed to earn up to USD 143 million or around Rp. 214 billion in its debut.
That's on par with industry expectations, which saw the film earn an estimated $150 million in North America.
While it wasn't a record-breaking debut or even the biggest opening for Marvel of the year, it did mark a strong premiere for Hollywood's most reliable blockbuster franchise.
The film starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor with Natalie Portman's The Mighty Thor to fight the evil forces that killed the gods has so far made up to USD 302 million worldwide.
That's the good news. However, the slightly bad news that “Love and Thunder” received mixed ratings from both audiences and critics.
However, this film managed to achieve a rating of 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It even got a CinemaScore "B+" from the audience. Now, the "B+" from ticket buyers is usually not the end of the world, but it's worrying for Marvel because these films are specifically made to please the crowd.
For example, Multiverse of Madness May made $187 million in its opening weekend and also has a "B+" viewer score.
Box office returns fell 67 percent in its second weekend. Then the film was eventually eclipsed by Top Gun: Maverick Paramount which has earned around USD 600 million domestically thanks largely to very positive word of mouth.
Meanwhile, lukewarm reactions have also been a bit of a trend for the superhero brand recently with three of its last four films earning CinemaScores below "A".
For starters, the brand may be a bit diluted due to the surplus of Disney+ Marvel shows.
"However, commercial success is not always directly correlated with quality," wrote Brian Lowry, CNN media critic.
"The downward shift to Disney-owned units raises legitimate questions about whether Marvel's efforts to feed parent studio streaming service Disney+ have contributed to undermining its output."
Also, films that have followed record-breaking successes like 2019's Avengers: Endgame feel a little pointless due to the lack of an overarching storyline.
However, this doesn't mean it's a problem for Marvel. That's because Marvel is still the biggest blockbuster brand in Hollywood with over $25 billion worldwide box office revenue, according to Comscore (SCOR).