Jordan Peele's Nope may have received a "B" CinemaScore from moviegoers, but that didn't stop it from heading straight to the top of the North American box office this weekend.
After $6.4 million previews on Thursday, the sci-fi horror movie debuted with $19.59 million on Friday for a $44 million opening weekend. That's an impressive haul, and despite being below some early estimates, still enough to dethrone the God of Thunder during Thor: Love and Thunder's third weekend on release.
Taika Waititi's sequel suffered a noteworthy drop last week, but still pulled in $22.1 million over Comic-Con weekend. That's not an electrifying number, but it's worth noting that Thor: Love and Thunder is currently $29 million ahead of where Thor: Ragnarok was at this point, and that movie received glowing reviews in comparison. In other words, this is a hit (just not as big a hit as expected).
With a total of $276.2 million domestically, Thor: Love and Thunder is set to surpass the $600 million mark today. It currently sits at $588.2 million worldwide, making it the sixth highest grossing movie of 2022. Had those reviews been a little better, we can't help but think the blockbuster would have hammered its way past $1 billion.
"Too silly to take seriously, there’s still a lot to love about Thor: Love and Thunder, but unlike Thor: Ragnarok, it’s unlikely to be a movie you’ll fall in love with," we said in our review of the movie earlier this month. "Marvel Studios may be developing a quantity over quality issue."
It's been something of a hit-and-miss year for Marvel Studios. On the one hand, Ms. Marvel is their best-reviewed TV series to date, while on the other, the response to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder from fans and critics alike hasn't been as glowing as usual.
Still, neither movie has been dubbed "Rotten" and both have performed admirably at the box office. With that in mind, perhaps reviews simply don't matter when it comes to the MCU?
Let us know your thoughts on Thor: Love and Thunder's box office performance below!