Thor’s 13-Year-Old Box Office Trend Proves Love & Thunder Didn’t Kill Thor 5’s MCU Chances
Despite Thor: Love and Thunder being a divisive entry in the MCU, it continued to follow one box-office trend for the Thor franchise that could make Thor 5 all the more likely to happen. Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Love and Thunder was the highly anticipated new entry in the Thor series following Thor: Ragnarok and coming hot off the heels of Avengers: Endgame. Thor: Love and Thunder failed to live up to those expectations, calling into question if a fifth Thor movie would ever be made.
Thor: Love and Thunder is almost universally seen as a step-down from Thor: Ragnarok in every way, including Chris Hemsworth, who isn’t too positive about his performance as the character. There is still a chance that Hemsworth could redeem himself with a fifth Thor film, and the character’s box-office history might just make it possible.
Thor: Love & Thunder Continued Thor’s Positive Box Office Trajectory
When Thor: Ragnarok came out, it rejuvenated the franchise in a plethora of ways, including leading the Thor series to new box-office heights. Thor: Ragnarok made about $315 million domestic (North America) and $850 total worldwide. This was a massive jump domestically from both Thor: The Dark World, which made $206 million, and Thor, which earned $181 million. Despite being the peak critically for the Thor franchise, the domestic box-office still had some left in the tank for the next film.
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Each film in the Thor franchise has seen a rise in domestic box-office gross from the previous and that rings true for Thor: Love and Thunder despite many viewing it as a significant step-down in quality from its predecessor. Thor: Love and Thunder went on to make just over $343 million domestically, a fantastic total for a fourth film in a franchise that was considered one of the lesser sub-franchises in the MCU until Taika Waititi came around.
Why Thor: Love & Thunder Made More Money Than Thor: Ragnarok Despite Reviewing Worse
One thing needs to be noted about Thor: Love and Thunder’s box-office total. It made about $761 million worldwide, which is roughly $90 million less overall than Thor: Ragnarok. The main reason that isn’t as significant of a factor as usual is because Thor: Love and Thunder was released in a time period where China wasn’t releasing MCU films. Ragnarok earned $110 million in China alone, which, if Love and Thunder matched, would have put it over Ragnarok’s worldwide total as well. Domestically, Love and Thunder clears with ease, and there are a few reasons it was able to.
Audiences really liked the character Thor had developed into since being essentially reimagined in Thor: Ragnarok.
Following Thor: Ragnarok and the one-two punch of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, hype for the fourth Thor film was high. In fact, it had the best opening weekend of the Thor franchise despite the less-than-stellar reviews, and had a solid, if not typical box office performance for an MCU film throughout the rest of its run. The other factor was simple; audiences really liked the character Thor had developed into since being essentially reimagined in Thor: Ragnarok and wanted to see more of him post-Endgame.
How Thor’s Positive MCU Box Office Trend Makes Thor 5 More Likely
Despite failing to reach the critical highs of Thor: Ragnarok, the upward domestic box office trend might convince Marvel Studios to make a fifth Thor film. First and foremost, studios are in the business of making money and even if a franchise has seen diminishing returns, they will try to squeeze every last drop out of it before it is no longer profitable. With Love and Thunder still being a massive success, there is no reason to assume that a fifth film could have success as well, even if it begins that downward trend.
Thor: Ragnarok is one of the top-five highest rated MCU films on Rotten Tomatoes, showing there is still a lot of critical goodwill the character can garner.
Director Taika Waititi has said that he would not return for another Thor film if Marvel Studios went ahead with another film in the franchise. Much like Waititi did with Thor: Ragnarok, a new director coming in could help give the franchise a second shot in the arm, after the franchise seemingly lost its luster twice after Thor: The Dark World and then again with Thor: Love and Thunder.
It’s no secret that the majority of fans in the MCU prefer Thor: Ragnarok to Thor: Love and Thunder. The former helped to develop the character in new and interesting ways, leading to Thor being a fan favorite going into Avengers: Infinity War. While Thor: Love and Thunder has been divisive since it’s release, the box-office success it had opens up the possibility that Marvel Studios could develop another Thor film at some point in the future.
Thor: Love & Thunder is the fourth Thor film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and director Taika Waititi’s second outing with the character. The movie finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey to find inner piece. But when Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) goes on a killing rampage against the gods, Thor is thrown back into the action. Tessa Thompson returns as Valkyrie, as does Waititi’s Korg. Natalie Portman also returns to the franchise for the first time in nine years as Jane Foster, who transforms into the Mighty Thor to wield Mjolnir.
- Release Date
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July 8, 2022
- Runtime
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118 minutes
- Budget
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$250 million
- Main Genre
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Adventure
Upcoming MCU Movies
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- Release Date
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February 14, 2025
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- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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- Release Date
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July 24, 2026
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Source: The Numbers
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