Thor (2011 Film) Kenneth Branagh

Box office

Thor grossed $181 million in the United States and Canada, and $268.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $449.3 million.[3] It was the 15th highest-grossing film of 2011.[145]

Thor earned $25.5 million on its opening day in the United States and Canada, including $3.3 million from Thursday previews,[135] for a total weekend gross of $65.7 million. $6.2 million of the gross came from IMAX 3D, while 60% of the gross was from 3D screenings.[136][137] It became the tenth highest-grossing film of 2011 in the United States and Canada,[146] and the highest-grossing comic-book film from May–August 2011.[147]

Thor's opening in Australia generated $5.8 million and placing second behind Universal Pictures' Fast Five. The film's box office was just 1% more than Iron Man opening in Australia in 2008, Marvel's most popular release at the time.[148] The following week, Thor opened in 56 markets and took in $89.2 million through the weekend.[133] The film's highest grossing markets were the United Kingdom ($22.5 million), Australia ($20.1 million) and Mexico ($19.5 million).[149]

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 77%, with an average score of 6.7/10, based on 296 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "A dazzling blockbuster that tempers its sweeping scope with wit, humor, and human drama, Thor is mighty Marvel entertainment."[150] Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[151] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[152]

Richard Kuipers of Variety stated, "Thor delivers the goods so long as butt is being kicked and family conflict is playing out in celestial dimensions, but is less thrilling during the Norse warrior god's rather brief banishment on Earth".[153] Megan Lehmann of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The hammer-hurling god of thunder kicks off this superhero summer with a bang".[154] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper liked the film "Thanks in large part to a charming, funny and winning performance from Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in the title role, Thor is the most entertaining superhero debut since the original Spider-Man".[155]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a negative review stating, "Thor is a failure as a movie, but a success as marketing, an illustration of the ancient carnival tactic of telling the rubes anything to get them into the tent".[156] A.O. Scott of The New York Times disliked the film, calling it "an example of the programmed triumph of commercial calculation over imagination".[157] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times had mixed feelings, describing the film as "an aesthetic stand-off between predictable elements and unexpected ones". Turan praised the performances of Hemsworth, Hopkins, and Elba, but found the special effects inconsistent and the Earth storyline derivative.[158]

Accolades