Tag: Thor: Love and Thunder

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson Pitched on ‘The Marvels’ Before Landing ‘Love and Thunder’

With Thor: Love and Thunder now heading into its third weekend, those involved with the fourquel are finally opening up on what it was like behind the scenes. For Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who saw her big break with MTV’s critically acclaimed Sweet/Vicious, the journey to Thor: Love and Thunder was an interesting one. The writer revealed in an interview with Variety that she’d gone in to pitch for another Marvel Studios film before landing the fourth Thor movie.

“I actually pitched to write ‘Captain Marvel 2,’” Robinson tells Variety. “And off of that pitch, they were like, ‘So we’re not giving you this job. We’re going to pair you with Taika and you’re going to help him on ‘Thor.”’

Of course, Captain Marvel 2, which is now titled The Marvels, ended up being written by WandaVision writer Megan McDonnell. Although Robinson didn’t get to write a Captain Marvel sequel, she was more than happy to adapt the Mighty Thor storyline from the comics. “What an amazing thing to be able to show a superhero with cancer and really not shy away from the ugliness of it and the things that are hard about it, but also really being able for this character to shine,” she explained. “A lot of the conversations were like, “How do we do this justice and how do we put something on screen that’s going to mean something and resonate with cancer survivors?”’

While Love and Thunder has been quite divisive among both fans and critics, Robinson and her co-writer, director Taika Waititi seemed to get along great. The duo worked well together, even with Waititi being known to throw out the script during filming. As Robinson notes, though, despite Waititi’s unusual approach on set, he makes sure to retain the core of the story at all times. “He threw out his own work,” she explained. “We really sat in rooms and Zooms together for months and months and months, and then we would get there, and we would rehearse it, and — “throw it out” is the wrong word. I mean, he does throw it out, but the core is still there. I would say he pluses — he can’t help but always try to plus. I can’t imagine Taika is ever going to write something and be like, “It’s done and we’ll shoot it.”

Thor: Love and Thunder is currently playing in theaters.

Source: Variety.

July 20, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Drops By 68% in its Second Weekend

Fans have all been keeping a close eye on where exactly Thor: Love and Thunder would end up in its second weekend. After quite the drop on its second Friday at 80%, the film still managed to pull in $46 million at the domestic box office. That makes for a 68% drop, which is higher than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ 67% drop. Still, the film grossed higher than its estimated $130 million, pulling in $144 million during its opening weekend. It’s also the same drop that Black Widow faced in its second weekend, as well as Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The follow-up to 2017’sThor: Ragnarok now stands at $233.2 million in its second weekend and is about to cross the half billion mark worldwide. Globally, the film stands at $498 million. However, despite opening higher than Ragnarok‘s $122.7 million, Love and Thunder was not able to out-gross the film’s second-weekend earnings of $57 million. The drop could be an indicator moving forward if this remains a trend. The 68% drop is similar to that of other summer superhero blockbusters, such as Man of Steel (67.9%) and Fantastic Four (68.2%). And with Top Gun: Maverick raking in $1.2 billion, it is clear that Marvel is getting beaten at the box office this summer.

It seems that general audiences are not connecting with Thor: Love and Thunder as much as they did Thor: Ragnarok. CinemaScore has given the film a general audience consensus of B+, compared to Ragnarok‘s A. However, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also received a B+, and ended up grossing $950 million worldwide. Only time will tell if Love and Thunder will have the same momentum.

July 17, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Faces Harsh Second Friday Drop at the Box Office

The numbers are in and Thor: Love and Thunder has faced quite the harsh drop going into its second weekend. Reports have stated that the latest Marvel film has plunged by around 80% after a bombastic opening last weekend. The domestic box office is showing its fangs with pretty much every production with one exception, Top Gun: Maverick, has faced similar drops. Even Minions: The Rise of Gru faced a harsh 70% drop on its second Friday.

This marks the second highest drop for any Marvel film, as it’s around 2% ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which fell from a $91M Friday. The current drop is closer to what Black Widow faced when it was released last year on June 29th and November’s Eternals (75%). So, the film is likely to wrap up around $45M and pull in $233M in its first ten days.

Any other franchise, as Forbes’ Scott Mendelsohn points out, this would be a strong second weekend but it is simply a record for a Marvel production. The question is if it’ll avoid the $100M loser club after opening to $144M. It’ll likely pass $500M worldwide by tomorrow but with some key markets also slowing down, anything can go for now. Even Jurassic World: Dominion saw a 73% drop and it had an A- CinemaScore while critics weren’t thrilled with the project.

Is this the “end of Marvel” as many like to call any non-record breaking box office opening for their films? Not really, as it continues a trend we’re still seeing throughout the pandemic with bigger blockbusters. $13.8M is lower than Minions’ second weekend at $14.43M but that isn’t an indicator. Frontloading has become a new norm and the B+ Cinemascore simply points to people enjoying their first watch, but in no hurry to do so again.

What works in its favor is that there’s no real competition moving forward outside of late July’s DC League of Super-Pets which likely is going to focus on a much younger crowd. Even with a 1.35x multiplier, the film would still end up around $315M which is around the same as Thor: Ragnarok. The only risk factor is the Disney+ release but Doctor Strange didn’t slow down too much still pulling in $34M after its release. That film faced the same CinemaScore and 45 digital release window but still managed to leg out to $950M.

Most films in this era for Marvel have had harsh drops and the pandemic is still an issue for some. So, people are much more selective about what film they’ll watch or spend money on. Korea has seen Top Gun take back the top spot where it’s been performing exceptionally well like in many other markets. While the film won’t pass The Batman at this rate, it’s a good sign such different projects can pull in very different numbers.

Source: Forbes, Forbes (Minions), The Numbers

July 16, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Passes $200M Internationally

Thor: Love and Thunder has been an interesting release, as it was welcomed with some more mixed arms by viewers. While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also faced a similar fate, mostly due to its horror roots, the B+ CinemaScore didn’t stop it from reaching creeping closely to $950M. Now, Thor: Love and Thunder may not have opened to thunderous applause, its box office numbers are certainly impressive.

Just a few days into its first week after a strong international and domestic opening weekend; only missing the third-highest grossing opening weekend of the year by a million. Now, the film has already passed $200M worldwide after pulling in $16.4M. It now stands at $203.5M domestically

The film opened to a $2.9M bow in France, which was one of the last to release and is an impressive +53% ahead of Thor: Ragnarok‘s release. Only slightly behind Jurassic World Dominion, as we saw domestically as well. Korea is seemingly the one market that has slowed down quite a bit given it got a worse ranking there, which is surprising given its strong standing with previous entries.

The film is likely to pass $200M domestically by Friday, which sets it up for a strong weekend that could be on the lowe rend of Marvel’s recent high drops. Still, it seems its overall weekend to day seven is on the lower spectrum of the multiplier. A big drop is expected in the second weekend around the 60%+ but leg it out throughout the rest of the summer.

Even Minions: the Rise of Gru faced a surprising harsh drop in its second weekend with only Top Gun: Maverick defying all expectations. It already pulled in $178.9M and has passed F9‘s $173M. So, it’ll be interesting what the weekend has planned for the latest Marvel venture.

Source: Box Office Pro, Twitter, Forbes

July 14, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Pulls in $300M Worldwide, Third Highest Domestic Opening of 2022

The numbers are finally in and it looks like even with what some deem mixed word-of-mouth, the film has already pulled in $300M worldwide. While the film is on the lower end of its predictions, the film pulled in $143M domestically, which is certainly shy of the $150M to $170M projections. In a way, it’s closer to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s release which is fitting given some of the discussions surrounding the latest entry. Still, the film has pulled in the third highest opening of the year just behind fellow Marvel release Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Jurassic World: Dominion, which it was only $2M shy of passing it.

As pointed out by Forbes Scott Mendelsohn, July releases aren’t as dominant as the pre-summer blockbuster releases and have showcased better legs. What is helping Marvel’s latest release is the fact that its only four-quadrant competition will be Black Adam in late October. While the smaller jump of 17% from Thor: Ragnarok isn’t their usual power push but the film wasn’t sold in the same way as the franchise changers like Captain America: Civil War and Multiverse of Madness.

Even if it’s on the lower end of projections, closer to the conservative ones from Marvel and Disney, the big question is where does it head from here. A harsh drop in the second weekend has become a norm for the franchise, but if it does end up sticking around 60% like Spider-Man: Homecoming and Ant-Man and the Wasp could get it to $400M. Yet, that B+ CinemaScore is likely going to drag it down a bit as those films bounced back. Yet, the lack of any real competition outside of Bullet Train and still ongoing power players Minions 2 and Top Gun Maverick.

At the moment, it does seem like the film will likely end domestically somewhere beyond $300M domestically. The film is also still showing a strong international release and won’t find its way to China and Russia, where the previous entry made around $135M. So, if the current film passes $715M worldwide it’ll still be a strong showing alongside other releases this year like No Time to Die ($774M) and The Batman ($770M). So the lowest bar to pass would be F9‘s $721M.

Source: Forbes, Twitter

July 10, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’s Production Budget Among Marvel Studios Highest

Currently, Thor: Love and Thunder is setting the box office ablaze and making its mark among the Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings. While not a critical darling, it does seem that audiences have enjoyed the film for the most part going by its 83% liked rating on Google and 81% Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was once again a Marvel film that pulled in a B+ after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Eternals both landed in that category. Many have been pointing to a doom and gloom scenario for the future of the franchise.

In the many discussions online in regards to the quality of the film’s overall effects work, Variety has revealed that the film’s budget has topped the previously assumed $200M and now stands at around $250M. While from a box office perspective, this merely adds weight to the project needing to at least hit $500M, which also doesn’t include the marketing costs. There’s no definite reason given why the production budget for this film ballooned up to this price mark but it should be noted that VFX isn’t the biggest part of the pie.

Given that they’ve done reshoots on the film with some rather expensive cast, it wouldn’t be too surprising that they may have wanted to invest slightly more. It’s only speculation mind you, but it’s interesting if you consider Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is still reported with a $200M budget. There’s also the chance that the use of the Volume has skyrocketed due to the rising interest. It does put the film on the same level as Captain America: Civil War and Avengers.

Yes, people will probably boggle down this to “why the VFX looks bad if that’s the budget” but there’s a lot we don’t know about how this production came together. Marvel films also have the added benefit of profiting off of merchandise sales that aren’t a key factor in its box office dominance. The bigger question remains if the current phase is still the aftermath of films being shot during COVID and that is a leading cause for many qualms people have; especially as it is something that’s affecting many films throughout the industry.

Source: Variety

July 10, 2022
Taika Waititi Would Only Add More Jokes to a ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Director’s Cut

There have been many times as of late where fans have wanted to see the director’s cut of a recently released film. It’s not always the case but with success stories like Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it became a bit of a habit. Yet, Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi doesn’t really share those thoughts and highlights the importance of studios and directors working together, as otherwise, he’d release a “four and a half hours long” movie.

I’ve been thinking about director’s cuts. I watch director’s cuts of a lot of other directors. They suck. Director’s cuts are not good. Directors need to be controlled sometimes, and if I was to say, ‘ah, you wanna watch my director’s cut? It’s four and a half hours long!’ It’s not good, at four and a half hours. There’s a lot of cup-of-tea breaks in there, you don’t even have to pause it.
Taika Waititi

He also highlights that he’d mostly just add cuts scenes and add a few more jokes in the film, which many have critics have actually pointed out was an issue with the film’s overall tonee.

I’d say my cut would probably have a few more jokes in there. There might be a couple of deleted scenes, but as I always say, a scene is deleted because it’s not good enough to be in the film. I think the deleted scenes section on the DVD, not that they use them anymore, should just be a list of the scenes and no links so you can’t click on them!
Taika Waititi

So, if you were hoping for some kind of director’s cut you’ll not get one. Yes, they have teased that quite a few sequences were cut from the film, but it does match Taika Waititi‘s directing style to throw everything he has against the wall to see what sticks. So, it does seem safe to say that his version would definitely include quite a few more jokes.

Source: NME

July 9, 2022
Russell Crowe Was Originally Going to Play Satan in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

Here’s a rather massive surprise but it looks like Zeus wasn’t always on the table for Thor: Love and Thunder. As revealed by artist Miles Teves, it seems that Russell Crowe was originally going to play a completely different character. While it’s uncertain at what point was he going to play this character, it seems they’ve envisioned him as the Devil or Satan at one point. Not just that, but eves also shared some artwork highlighting the design.

View this post on Instagram

There’s also a second piece showcasing a more relaxed version of the character, but just with more added color and highlighting his lazy nature. It’s unclear if he would’ve had the same role in the story or if that was also changed while rewriting it.

View this post on Instagram

It’s definitely a surprise that the character was almost featured in the film, and it adds more to the theories of Mephisto making his appearance at some point. Many believed he was the mastermind in the first Disney+ series, WandaVision but were surprised when he never even showed up. While the character here is being called the Devil or Satan, it could’ve been that they considered adding him in as Mephisto for a later storyline. Yet, as we now know how the story goes, we learn that they set up something quite different going into the post-credit sequences of this film. Still, it’s always interesting to see what almost was or could’ve been.

Source: Instagram

July 9, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Eyeing to Surpass ‘Thor: Ragnarok’s Opening Weekend With $135M+

With the Friday number sin, we’re getting a better vision of where the box office for Thor: Love and Thunder is heading. After taking in a strong Thursday Preview with $29M, the film has ended up kicking off its box office run at around $69.5M on Friday, which includes the previews. As of now, it is seemingly heading towards a $135M with a potential $145M if it picks up some pace over the weekend. It’ll be the best opening for a Taika Waititi-directed project and even beat out Natalie Portman‘s best release which was Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith with $108M back in the day.

It doesn’t seem like the film will potentially outpace Jurassic World: Dominion and will have to settle for the third biggest opening of the year so far. Still, the reopening for Marvel Studios’ first fourth entry in a franchise isn’t doing too badly as it’s ahead of the $122M opening for Thor: Ragnarok. While it’s unclear if it’ll surpass that film’s total box office, especially with the now CinemaScore B+ rating potentially slowing down its legs, the sequel still managed to reach $950M when it was initially released with a B+ rating. Still, the film has been doing pretty well overseas as well and is already on its way to $300M opening.

there are quite a few theories going around on what this means for the Studio as it’s another B release after Strange and Eternals. Some are questioning if Marvel is overdoing it with Disney+ or generally if this is a sign of audiences being tired of the franchise. One could easily point to Deadline’s analysis from RelishMix which has looked at Social Media’s stirring with the controversy of Portman‘s return as a “gender-bent” version of the character and a surprising backlash to Waititi‘s trademark humor. With a horror film and a rom-com/comedy, it’s still a bit tough to really nail down if this is an issue on Marvel’s side or just everyone getting back into the swing of things.

Source: Deadline, THR

July 9, 2022
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Nabs B+ CinemaScore, Same as ‘Doctor Strange 2’

The CinemaScore has finally arrived, which mostly reflects how the general audience feels about a film’s release. Unlike normal ratings, the films are mostly skewed heavily with A being the general goal for any release. Marvel Studios famously stuck around to this area as a “crowd-pleasing” offering but that has changed with Phase 4. Some of their releases have landed the B rating, most notably Eternals being the first to do so. Thor in 2011 also received a B+ rating. Now, Thor: Love and Thunder has also joined the B+ club.

https://twitter.com/CinemaScore/status/1545634584313970688

CinemaScore has just released the fact that the general audience has given Thor: Love and Thunder a B+ grade. Now, the internet is already in a panic about this being the sign that Marvel Studios has lost its grace with the general audience, but there’s a lot more at play with this rating. Yes, it is normally a higher rating, anything with a C+, such as Morbius, is a sign that the film may not leg out

Yet, considering that the film currently holds an 84% like ratio from Google Users, stands at 7.1 on IMDb, and even has an 83% Audience Score on RottenTomatoes, you start to see the bigger picture. The only indication this value has is a hint at the legs a film will have at the box office, and if Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is anything to go by, a B+ won’t stop it too much. Yes, it won’t have the same momentum that could push it past its initial release but we may see a harsh drop in the second weekend.

Also, most indie releases end up in this ranking, which generally is a sign of how audiences consume media. If it is mindless fun, they’ll tend to give it a higher ranking and Marvel Studios still has an A ranking for films like Shang-Chi, Black Widow, and especially Spider-Man: No Way Home. Plus, the lowest ranking films also include strong horror and gore elements, such as Doctor Strange with Love and Thunder also includes some “bloody-esque” kills plus LGTB representation that is more dominant than a blink-and-you-miss-it kiss like in Lightyear. And if we want Marvel Studios to experiment (as has been proclaimed by many over the years), they will face a slight disconnect with general audiences at times.

Source: Twitter, CinemaScore

July 9, 2022