Third Thor conquers box office in debut

NEW YORK — Thor: Ragnarok thundered to one of the year’s best box-office debuts with an estimated $121 million US domestically, proving again — just as its flexing its muscle — the might of the Walt Disney Co.

The robust debut for the third Thor movie was a welcome shot in the arm for Hollywood and theatre owners, who suffered through a terrible October at the box office. Thor: Ragnarok also bucked the trend of diminishing returns for sequels. The 2011 Thor debuted with $65.7 million; 2013’s Thor: The Dark World opened with $85.7 million.

“In this business, it’s not often you see the second and third instalments in the franchise outpacing the previous issue,” said David Hollis, distribution chief. “You don’t expect never-ending returns when it comes to sequels, but it definitely speaks to the quality of the talent at the Marvel Studios team.”

The weekend’s other new North American release, STX Entertainment’s A Bad Moms Christmas, opened with $17 million over the weekend and $21.6 million since opening Wednesday, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The holiday-themed sequel, which returns stars Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn, came in shy of the 2016 original’s $23.8-million opening.

But the big story was Thor, which also grossed $151.4 million in its second week of international release. The film has, in 10 days, made $427 million worldwide.

Disney isn’t alone in rolling out such blockbusters, but three of the year’s five $100-million-plus releases are theirs. (Disney’s other two are Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) The studio has recently, as reported by the Wall Street Journal last week, pushed new terms to theatre owners, saying it will demand a 65 per cent cut of ticket sales for its upcoming Star Wars film The Last Jedi, as opposed to the more typical 60 per cent.

Hollis declined to discuss the studio’s demand, but said: “We’re hopeful that our big films will help drive our mutual success.”

The Los Angeles Times said Friday that Disney barred its critic from attending movie previews after the paper published a report about Disneyland’s business ties with the city of Anaheim. In a statement, Disney said that the two-part report showed “a complete disregard for basic journalistic standards.”

The issue of revenue splitting is an acute one for theatre owners who are already fighting against up-and-down ticket sales and mounting competition from streaming outlets. Disney plans to launch a streaming service in 2019 that will include film releases.

Several films opened in limited release, including Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age tale Lady Bird, with Saoirse Ronan. On four screens in New York and Los Angeles, the release drew some of the most packed theatres of the year with a $93,903 per-screen average.

Rob Reiner’s LBJ, with Woody Harrelson, debuted with $1.1 million in 659 theatres. Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying, with Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne, brought in a per-screen average of $10,500 in four theatres.