2017 has been a pretty incredible year for comic book movies, as Thor: Ragnarok has just become the fourth superhero film this year to pass the $300 million mark at the domestic box office.
Summer blockbusters Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman also reached this milestone. Only two movies outside the superhero genre passed $300 million this year, Disney's Beauty and the Beast and the Stephen King adaptation It. So much for superhero fatigue setting in with audiences...
With Star Wars: The Last Jedi opening next week, this was a pretty quiet weekend for film releases as studios are understandably staying out of the massive franchise's way. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the highly anticipated space opera to reach the $300 million mark, as Star Wars: The Force Awakens reached it by the Tuesday following its release.
Thor: Ragnarok also had a noteworthy week at the global box office as well, passing Wonder Woman to become the seventh-highest grossing film in the world so far this year. The Taika Waititi film is also now the third biggest comic book movie of the year at the global box office.
This is an impressive feat for the Thor series, as the films have progressively become more profitable with every entry in the series—a pretty ideal progression from the studio's point of view. Of course, the inclusion of the Hulk was important in generating buzz for the movie, so it makes a proper comparison with the other Thor films a bit difficult