"Thor: The Dark World," starring Chris Hemsworth, easily ruled the box office this weekend. (Walt Disney Studios)
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With its god of thunder "Thor" lighting up the box office this weekend, Marvel has struck again at the multiplex.
The 3-D sequel "Thor: The Dark World" debuted with a healthy $86 million, according to an estimate from Marvel distributor Walt Disney Studios. That's the fourth-highest opening of the year, but well behind another Marvel property, "Iron Man 3," whose $174-million debut is still the biggest of 2013.
Heading into the weekend, prerelease audience surveys suggested the comic book adaptation would debut with a minimum of $90 million -- and given strong early interest, even a $100-million launch didn't appear impossible. Of course, $86 million is still a great start -- significantly more than the $65.7 million the original "Thor" launched with in 2011. And although "The Dark World" cost Marvel Entertainment $170 million to produce, the film is likely going to do so well overseas that the studio will end up in good shape.
And yet a film from the Marvel universe is held to exceptionally high standards. The first "Thor," which in the end collected $181 million domestically and $268 million abroad, wasn't viewed as a massive hit -- but it was the first film in a franchise, so it was given the benefit of the doubt. Now that the sequel has launched, it seems clear that the "Thor" movies are not destined to perform at the rate that the"Iron Man" films do.
This summer, audiences went crazy for Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man 3" as the film raked in an insane $1.2 billion worldwide. The movie no doubt benefited from the success of"The Avengers," which in summer 2012 became the top-grossing film of the year with $1.5 billion in global sales. "The Avengers" features both Iron Man and Thor, along with other Marvel superheroes such as the Hulk and Captain America. (An "Avengers" sequel is planned for release in 2015.)
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