The good news just keeps coming for Marvel’s God of Thunder.
Buoyed by stellar reviews, not to mention that overly impressive debut overseas, Thor: Ragnarok is now well on its way to box office stardom. While initial forecasts claimed Taika Waititi’s threequel would open to $100 million on home turf – a domestic haul that would place Ragnarok just behind Justice League, for the record – we’re now learning that the threequel’s grand total has already soared past $500 million, with the pic currently sitting at $527 million.
That number will only climb higher, too, as not only is Thor: Ragnarok poised to dominate North America once again this weekend, but the spacefaring Marvel blockbuster has already expanded into a number of crucial markets across the globe – namely China, Japan, Germany, Russia and Mexico. So far, it’s had a spectacular debut by anyone’s standards, but the fact that the first Thor movie grossed $449 million six whole years ago really puts things into perspective. Indeed, if the MCU was ever at risk of franchise fatigue, it doesn’t show.
Making matters more interesting is Thor: Ragnarok‘s lofty score on Rotten Tomatoes. The review aggregator recently crowned Ragnarok as the highest-rated entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe – no mean feat, mind you, given it’s the seventeenth film in the superhero saga.
It’s no wonder director Taika Waititi is beginning to drop hints about working with Marvel on a future project. The New Zealand filmmaker is currently one of the most sought-after creators in the business, and though his zany Black Widow pitch might be too much of a stretch, it’s nigh on certain that Waititi will be back working within the MCU sooner rather than later. Other Marvel characters are still on the table, it seems, though Taika Waititi will likely stick with the God of Thunder. And can you really blame him?
Now that Asgard has been reduced to a smoldering pile of ashes, next up for Thor is the release of Avengers: Infinity War, which will see Marvel’s God of Thunder buddy up with scores of costumed crusaders (Spider-Man included!) when the ensemble piece arrives on May 4th, 2018.