Thor tops Daddy's Home 2, Orient Express at box office

Scarlett Estevez plays Megan and Owen Wilder Vaccaro is Dylan in Daddy’s Home 2. It came in second behind Thor: Ragnarok at last weekend’s box office and made about $30 million.
Scarlett Estevez plays Megan and Owen Wilder Vaccaro is Dylan in Daddy’s Home 2. It came in second behind Thor: Ragnarok at last weekend’s box office and made about $30 million.

LOS ANGELES -- The God of Thunder isn't ready to relinquish his box office throne yet.

Studios estimated Sunday that Thor: Ragnarok added $56.6 million from North American theaters in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $212 million.

The film, from Disney and Marvel and directed by Taika Waititi, out-grossed each of its two predecessors domestically in just two weeks, not accounting for inflation.

It easily beat out the comedy sequel Daddy's Home 2 and the lavish Agatha Christie adaptation Murder on the Orient Express, even as both posted solid openings.

Paramount scored again with Daddy's Home 2, which adds John Lithgow and Mel Gibson to the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg formula. The film, which cost a reported $69 million to produce, took second place at the box office with $30 million. The first film from 2015 grossed $242.8 million worldwide on a similar budget.

Critics were not won over by the comedy, but audiences seemed pleased, giving the film an A- on CinemaScore.

The star-studded Murder on the Orient Express, meanwhile, screeched into third place with an estimated $28 million against a $55 million budget. Kenneth Branagh directs himself in the film, which also stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley and Judi Dench.

Audiences were mostly female (56 percent), and Caucasian (65 percent), but somewhat evenly split in terms of age (51 percent were over 35).

"It gives me an incredible injection of optimism for the future of our business. This is sumptuous, throwback Hollywood filmmaking, and audiences responded to it," said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for Twentieth Century Fox.

The studio expects the film to play well through the Thanksgiving holiday, appealing to audiences who are not rushing out to see the latest comic book adventure. Next week, DC and Warner Bros.' superhero ensemble pic Justice League opens.

A Bad Moms Christmas took fourth with $11.5 million in its second weekend, and Jigsaw rounded out the top five with $3.4 million.

In smaller releases, Greta Gerwig's buzzy coming-of-age film Lady Bird, from distributor A24, also broke into the top 10 in its expansion to 37 theaters, earning $1.2 million. Another awards contender, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, starring Frances McDormand, opened to a strong limited release with $320,000 from just four theaters.

Still, the overall box office continues to lag, down 5 percent for the year.

"We're still down from the same weekend a year ago about 7 percent. Despite 'Thor' and these newcomers, a lot of these films aren't creating a lot of excitement," said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "It's going to take this combination of 'Justice League' and 'The Last Jedi'and everything in between to try to dig us out of this deficit."

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

  1. Thor: Ragnarok, Disney, $57,078,306, 4,080 locations, $13,990 average, $212,068,013, 2 Weeks.

  2. Daddy's Home 2, Paramount, $29,651,193, 3,575 locations, $8,294 average, $29,651,193, 1 Week.

  3. Murder On The Orient Express, 20th Century Fox, $28,681,472, 3,341 locations, $8,585 average, $28,681,472, 1 Week.

  4. A Bad Moms Christmas, STX Entertainment, $11,468,964, 3,615 locations, $3,173 average, $39,832,590, 2 Weeks.

  5. Jigsaw, Lionsgate, $3,424,319, 2,651 locations, $1,292 average, $34,358,412, 3 Weeks.

  6. Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, Lionsgate, $2,001,108, 1,900 locations, $1,053 average, $45,851,571, 4 Weeks.

  7. Geostorm, Warner Bros., $1,641,680, 1,685 locations, $974 average, $31,720,572, 4 Weeks.

  8. Blade Runner 2049, Warner Bros., $1,460,463, 863 locations, $1,692 average, $88,051,760, 6 Weeks.

  9. Happy Death Day, Universal, $1,266,440, 1,564 locations, $810 average, $54,908,045, 5 Weeks.

  10. Lady Bird, A24, $1,199,748, 37 locations, $32,426 average, $1,731,828, 2 Weeks.

  11. Let There Be Light, Atlas Distribution Company, $1,114,560, 774 locations, $1,440 average, $5,939,454, 3 Weeks.

  12. Only The Brave, Sony, $936,889, 1,207 locations, $776 average, $17,060,805, 4 Weeks.

  13. Thank You For Your Service, Universal, $853,295, 1,348 locations, $633 average, $9,063,685, 3 Weeks.

  14. The Lego Ninjago Movie, Warner Bros., $801,680, 771 locations, $1,040 average, $58,524,340, 8 Weeks.

  15. The Foreigner, STX Entertainment, $781,257, 737 locations, $1,060 average, $33,474,379, 5 Weeks.

  16. Victoria And Abdul, Focus Features, $677,906, 637 locations, $1,064 average, $21,140,610, 8 Weeks.

  17. The Florida Project, A24, $540,507, 229 locations, $2,360 average, $3,800,385, 6 Weeks.

  18. Loving Vincent, Good Deed Entertainment, $512,194, 212 locations, $2,416 average, $3,931,068, 8 Weeks.

  19. My Little Pony: The Movie, Lionsgate, $508,815, 592 locations, $859 average, $21,520,056, 6 Weeks.

  20. LBJ, Vertical Entertainment, $486,285, 608 locations, $800 average, $2,062,231, 2 Weeks.

MovieStyle on 11/17/2017

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