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Credit: Marvel StudiosThor: Love and Thunder (2022) has officially hit the $300 million mark in the United States and is zeroing in on the success of its predecessor, according to Box Office Mojo.
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With a gross domestic total of $315,058,289, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) is set to fall behind the newly released Thor: Love and Thunder by next week.
In the latest Thor installment, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), and Natalie Portman (Jane Foster/Mighty Thor) reprise their Marvel Studios roles.
The Taika Waititi-directed project also introduced Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher.
While Love and Thunder has seen documented success domestically — despite a rather chilly audience reception from Marvel fans overall — its international debut has not come without its challenges, as several countries have refused to even air the film due to its LGBTQ+ representation, most obviously embodied by Thompson’s character Valkyrie.
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Not only has it faced international backlash, it also possesses the lower Metacritic score of the two films, rating at 57 compared to Ragnarok‘s 74. In fact, Metacritic’s user score suggests that Love and Thunder is the least favored film in the Thor franchise with a 5.3 user rating.
Some fans credit the this flop to the absence of Tom Hiddleston’s beloved character Loki, who had a starring role in the films prior. Twitter user @hiddlethings had the following to say about Loki’s absence:
lokitvsource: Loki’s Absence In Thor: Love and Thunder Hurts The Movie The Thor universe doesn’t feel the same without the staple brotherly relationship storyline it’s always been built on. The newest entry in the Thor franchise has…
📷 lokitvsource: Loki’s Absence In Thor: Love and Thunder Hurts The Movie The Thor universe doesn’t feel the same without the staple brotherly relationship storyline it’s always been built on. The newest entry in the Thor franchise has… https://t.co/5sDk1FWV4K
— Hiddle Things (@hiddlethings) August 1, 2022
Some fans are writing off the film altogether, like the following Twitter user whose love for the franchise also stopped with Ragnarok.
saw Thor: Love and Thunder. not what i expected, 100x heavier than what i wanted for a weekend romp to the theatre after all this time. good story, well made, love Taika, but utterly done with this franchise. scratching this like i've done with everything else post-Ragnarok. 💔 pic.twitter.com/dXiDRD9YBJ
— Boots 🦋 (@NakedEchidna) August 1, 2022
Despite this feedback and the films controversy, Love and Thunder continues to soar in the box office with time left in its run.
More on Thor: Love and Thunder
The official description of the fourth installment in the Thor franchise reads:
Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder” finds the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But Thor’s retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
What do you think of Thor: Love and Thunder? Is it worthy of its box office success? Let us know in the comments below.