As expected, Marvel entry Thor: Love and Thunder Handily took #1 in its second weekend on the North American theater box office with $46 million in ticket sales, way ahead of the new entry Where the crayfish singwhich made a better-than-expected $17 million.
Thor thundered to number one at the domestic box office at 4,375 locations, a 68 percent drop from the first weekend. This is similar to the last Marvel episode, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which dropped to 67 percent in its second weekend at the US box office en route to $411 million. Other pandemic MCU titles like Shang-Chi fared better, with the landmark Marvel entry seeing only a 52 percent drop.
The domestic total for the fourth tranche in the Thor standalone franchise stands at $233 million, while worldwide ticket sales stand at $498 million.
lobsters took its weekend run across 3,650 locations after a promising $2.3 million in previews on Thursday. The $24 million budget drama is based on the New York Times best seller. the stars Normal people breakout Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya Clark, a young woman who has long lived alone in the swamps of North Carolina and is accused of murder. Reese Witherspoon produced the film which was directed by Olivia Newman from a screenplay by Lucy Alibar.
lobsters has been poorly received by critics, with a 36 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. THR’s review called it “a confused moral fantasy.” Still, it has earned an A-CinemaScore from moviegoers and a 4.5 rating in PostTrak exit polling.
The other new wide release of the weekend is Paramount children’s animation title Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, which came in sixth place, making just $6.25 million over the weekend across 3,475 North American locations.
Children’s entertainment has had a flawless track record this summer, with the Disney-Pixar title light year underperformed ($213 million to date, worldwide), while Minions: The Rise of Gru continued its impressive domestic box office run with $26 million this weekend and the #2 spot for a North American total of $262 million and 532.7 million worldwide.
Paws of Fury was a takeover title for the studio, which had success last summer with the paw patrol film that earned $144 million at the worldwide box office through a day-and-date release with the then-emerging streaming service, Paramount+. paw patrol sourced from sister company Nickelodeon Movies, with the studio using the Nickelodeon channels to market Paws of Fury.
Paws of Fury Michael Cera voices Hank, a sweet dog who dreams of becoming a samurai, a job normally reserved for cats. Hank must help protect a village of cats and finds a reluctant teacher (Samuel L. Jackson) to train him before he teams up with the villagers to save the day. Michelle Yeoh, George Takei, Ricky Gervais and Mel Brooks are also featured.
Elsewhere for the studio, Top Gun: Maverick continues its run at the #4 spot, with $12 million at the domestic box office, where it has now flown past the $600 million benchmark. The weekend drop was at least 23 percent. Warner Bros Title Elvis rounded out the top five with $7.6 million from 3,305 theaters, bringing the domestic gross to $106 million with a worldwide cumulative of $185.6 million.
At the special box office, Focus Features and eOne title Mrs Harris is going to Paris earned $1.9 million playing in 980 theaters for a per theater average of $1,939. The film, which has a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and came in at number 9 on the weekend’s rankings, follows a widowed cleaning lady (Lesley Manville) who falls in love with a Dior dress and decides to travel to Paris to make her own.
Also available in limited edition Marcel de Schel, the A24 film cost $575,000 in 153 locations for a total cost of nearly $1.7 million. The Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate animated film will continue to expand.