‘Thor: Ragnarok’s Strong Sunday Bulks Marvel Pic To $122.7M Opening – Monday Final

Monday final with chart: Disney/Marvel‘s Thor: Ragnarok easily beat its Sunday $121M estimate with $122.7M which makes it the sixth best opening of November. The Taika Waititi-directed threequel drew $32.1M yesterday, -27% from Saturday’s $44.2M. That haul ranks as the second best Sunday in November after The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($34.5M). While Tuesday is bound to be the bigger midday for Ragnarok, Doctor Strange declined 71% from Sunday to Monday at this time last year for  $6.2M. Given Ragnarok‘s momentum, it only makes sense that the pic stands to make more, potentially $9M to $10M+. Look for Ragnarok to own next weekend with at least $60M before it has to hand its hammer over to Warner Bros.’ Justice League which looks to emulate the Marvel movie in its three-day on Nov. 17.

A Bad Moms Christmas filed $16.7M for the weekend, $300K less than the $17M reported yesterday for a five-day run of $21.2M. While exit polls were sour with a B CinemaScore and a 68% overall positive PostTrak score, we’ll see if moviegoers can muster some holiday cheer for this movie and have it leg out in the next two months. Rivals believe it will final around Office Christmas Party‘s take of $54.8M.  Final figures on A24’s Lady Bird from director Greta Gerwig is $91K per theater, the highest year to date beating Amazon/Lionsgate’s opening PTA of $84K, for a three-day of $364K at four New York and Los Angeles houses.

Total ticket sales for the weekend came in at $179.9M, -6% from a year ago, leaving 2017 through this past Sunday with $8.9 billion, -4.8%. Opening next weekend are 20th Century Fox’s Kenneth Branagh-directed reboot Murder on the Orient Express, Paramount’s Daddy’s Home 2 and in exclusive play, Fox Searchlight’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. 

Final top 20 from ComScore for the weekend of Nov. 3-5:

1. Thor: Ragnarok, Disney, $122.7M, 4,080 locations, $30,085 average, 1 Week.
2. A Bad Moms Christmas, STX Entertainment, $16.76, 3,615 locations, $4,636 average, $21.2M, 1 Week.
3. Jigsaw, Lionsgate, $6.6M,-61%, 2,941 locations, $2,230 average, $28.7M, 2 Weeks.
4. Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, Lionsgate, $4.5M, -55%, 2,202 locations, $2,062 average, $42.8M, 3 Weeks.
5. Geostorm, Warner Bros., $3.2M, -46%, 2,666 locations, $1,198 average, $28.9M, 3 Weeks.
6. Happy Death Day, Universal, $2.7M, -47%, 2,184 locations, $1,236 average, $52.9M, 4 Weeks.
7. Blade Runner 2049, Warner Bros., $2.3M, -44%, 1,464 locations, $1,586 average, $85.5M, 5 Weeks.
8. Thank You For Your Service, Universal, $2.2M, -42%, 2,083 locations, $1,060 average, $7.3M, 2 Weeks.
9. Only The Brave, Sony, $1.9M,-45%, 2,073 locations, $926 average, $15.3M, 3 Weeks.
10. Let There Be Light, Atlas Distribution Company, $1.7M, -2%, 642 locations, $2,644 average, $4.1M, 2 Weeks.
11. The Foreigner, STX Entertainment, $1.6M, -54%, 1,456 locations, $1,096 average, $32M, 4 Weeks.
12. Victoria And Abdul, Focus Features, $1.2M, -27%, 796 locations, $1,516 average, $19.9M, 7 Weeks.
13. Suburbicon, Paramount, $1.1M, -58%, 2,046 locations, $579 average, $5.1M 2 Weeks.
14. LBJ, Vertical Entertainment, $1.1M, 659 locations, $1,685 average, 1 Week.
15. It, Warner Bros., $1M, -60%, 1,081 locations, $926 average, $325.9M, 9 Weeks.
16. Kingsman: The Golden Circle, 20th Century Fox, $818K, -50%, 802 locations, $1,020 average, $98.7M, 7 Weeks.
17. American Made, Universal, $800K, -53%, 663 locations, $1,206 average, $50M, 6 Weeks.
18. The Lego Ninjago Movie, Warner Bros., $793K, -38%, 835 locations, $950 average, $57.5M, 7 Weeks.
19. The Florida Project, A24, $634K, +21%, 189 locations, $3,353 average, $3M, 5 Weeks.
20. My Little Pony: The Movie, Lionsgate, $603K, 785 locations, $768 average, $20.9M, 5 Weeks.

Sunday AM, 7:30AM: Disney is calling Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok at $121M, which is bigger than we thought, eclipsing the top of the pic’s industry tracking range, which was at $100M-$120M heading into the weekend. Some rivals even believe that Ragnarok could final at $122M by tomorrow AM. Ragnarok‘s Saturday at $44.4M was only off 5% from its $46.8M opening, but remember, that figure includes $14.5M previews. Backing out previews (which results in a $32.3M Friday), Saturday is really up an astounding +37%. Worldwide running cume for Ragnarok is at $427M, $27M higher than what we expected. Forty-two percent of that total came from 3D showtimes. Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, spanning 17 titles, now counts $13 billion worldwide and $5 billion stateside.

Still, even with the power of the almighty Thor, this weekend’s total tickets sales at $182M were down 5% when compared to the same frame last year, when Doctor Strange opened. Why the difference? Last year, there was an extra $25.6M in the marketplace thanks to solid counter-programming from DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls and Lionsgate’s Hacksaw Ridge. For the period of Jan. 1 through November 5, we’re at $8.9 billion, -4.8% versus the same calendar stretch in 2016.

As we mentioned previously, Ragnaork‘s weekend is exceptional for a threequel because it’s the highest in the Thor series. With each installment, the franchise’s opening has increased. This is quite similar to the trend we’ve seen in such threequel openings as Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3, which also hold the highest domestic debuts in their respective Marvel franchises.

When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opened, we went into detail about how the MCU consistently gets it right in a way that other studios cannot with their own franchises. Typically, these Marvel movies aren’t test-screened, but previewed before an exclusive ring of friends, family, and previous Marvel helmers like Jon Favreau and James Gunn, who dispense their thoughts. Marvel refuses to mail-in a sequel for a cash grab. Last April at a Marvel press day, chief Kevin Feige shared some insight into the production company’s secret sauce and what makes it tick: Feige said that he once overheard Pixar chief John Lasseter say that at a specific point in each Pixar film’s production, every animated film is the worst they’ve ever made. “I thought to myself, ‘It’s just not us,’ ” said Feige. “We keep plus-ing and plus-ing and plus-ing, which is an old Walt Disney term. It’s the mindset we have.” The fruits of that determination speak for itself.

“Having Taika Waititi’s voice is a big part of what people are responding to. That combination of a great filmmaker, Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito’s great leadership, makes this feel fresh,” said Disney president of worldwide theatrical distribution Dave Hollis about the success of Ragnarok this weekend.

“The way Thor‘s opening went up, its CinemaScore, the way it’s holding in other countries overseas, it’s a real testament to how these guys have approached the Marvel broader universe. They have such a track record when it comes to sequels. We’ve been seeing grosses tick up between installments: Ragnarok is up 41% over Thor: Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was up 55% over its first installment, Captain America: Civil War was up 89% over Winter Solder. They found a way to build on the momentum in a way that creates more excitement, more care for these characters and interest in their stories. There’s a halo around the MCU, but each movie adds depth to the world around it and each title stands on its own,” beamed Hollis.

Disney exit polls spot 56% men, 44% females, 19% families, 63% over 25 for Ragnarok.

Imax tickets sales for Ragnarok are at $25.4M box office, bringing its overall global cume to $34M. It was the widest launch ever in Imax on 1,187 screens, and Ragnarok broke the large format exhibitor’s worldwide November opening weekend record, easily outstripping last year’s Doctor Strange. Ragnarok was also the third-best Marvel opening ever. Four hundred screens in U.S./Canada posted the second best Imax opening this year to date and the third best November launch for $12.2M, or 10% of Ragnarok‘s weekend. Twenty four of the top 30 locations had an Imax auditorium.

During the weekend, Waititi, Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Marvel boss Kevin Feige and EP Louis D’Esposito surprised fans at three theaters on Friday night in Los Angeles: The Vista, the Hollywood ArcLight and The Grove. Waititi stopped by Deadline’s Contenders conference on Saturday where he was in great spirits about his opening weekend.

The cast and filmmakers of #ThorRagnarok surprising fans at opening night screenings! Who’s watching it tonight?? ⚡️⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/Zswxkk1IyZ

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 4, 2017

RelishMix weighs Ragnarok‘s social media universe at 858M across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For more analysis as to why Ragnarok worked this weekend, scroll down to our previous update. Ragnarok online videos went viral at a rate of 41:1 which is just above the average superhero movie’s viral rate of 39:1. Social activity for Ragnarok has been consistently healthy since the sneak peek that dropped last August. The Ragnarok cast has been fully activated on social. The combined social reach of Marvel – from its established Marvel pages and feeds and the newer Marvel Studios – is a combined 58.1M, and, in addition to this immense social footprint, Disney and Walt Disney Studios are both supporting Ragnarok. Their combined SMU is a colossal 109.1M, led by Disney’s FB page with 51M fans alone. So, when the Ragnarok trailer dropped, even without counting the film’s official pages/feeds, Marvel had over 167M followers within its reach immediately, a number any studio would envy.

STXfilms has reported their ticket sales for A Bad Moms Christmas this morning and they’re seeing $6.9M yesterday (+26% over Friday), a three-day weekend of $17M, and five-day of $21.6M (rival estimates have them around that level as well). On Fizzology social media monitor, A Bad Moms Christmas reportedly has a 96% positive, but the movie exit polls are still low at 68% overall on PostTrak and 71% overall positive female (74% turnout). The under-25 female set loves the movie the most at 79% positive, even though they didn’t turn out (16%). Rivals are jaded about the exit scores here for A Bad Moms Christmas; the pic’s first installment earned a solid A CinemaScore. We’ll see, in time, whether A Bad Moms Christmas legs out: It has literally two months of play versus the three-week period that last year’s R-rated raunchy comedy Office Christmas Party (which was co-storied by Bad Moms directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore) had, which posted a $17.5M opening, $54.8M final. A Bad Moms Christmas cost before P&A $28M.

Meanwhile, A24’s Lady Bird notched the best opening theater average of the year with $93K at four New York and Los Angeles venues, or $375, 6K. The year’s previous opening weekend theater average champ was Amazon/Lionsgate’s The Big Sick with $84K.

Studio reported estimates as of Sunday AM for the weekend of Nov. 3-5:

 1. Thor: Ragnarok (DIS), 4,080 theaters / $46.8M Fri. (includes $14.5M previews) /$44.4M Sat. / $29.8M Sun/ 3-day cume: $121M / Wk 1

2. A Bad Moms Christmas  (STX), 3,615 theaters / $5.5M Fri. /$6.9M Sat/ $4.6M Sun/ 3-day cume: $17M /Total: $21.6M/ Wk 1

3. Jigsaw  (LG), 2,941 theaters / $2M Fri. / $2.8M Sat/ $1.8M Sun/3-day cume: $6.1M to $6.7M (-60%)/Total: $28.8M/ Wk 2

4. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween  (LG), 2,202 theaters (-186) / $1.2M Fri. /$2.2M Sat/$1.2M Sun/ 3-day cume: $4.65M (-54%)/Total: $43M Wk 3

5. Geostorm  (WB/SKY), 2,666 theaters (-580)/ $825K Fri.  /$1.4M Sat/$785K Sun/ 3-day cume: $3M (-49%)/Total: $28.8M/ Wk 3

6. Happy Death Day  (UNI/BLUM), 2,184 theaters (-1,351) / $792K Fri.  / $1.2M Sat/ $808K Sun/3-day cume: $2.8M  (-45%)/ Total: $53M/Wk 4

7. Thank You for Your Service  (DW/UNI), 2,083 theaters (+29) / $673K Fri. /$934K Sat/$653K Sun/ 3-day cume: $2.26M (-41%)/Total: $7.4M/ Wk 2

8. Blade Runner 2049  (ALC/WB/SONY), 1,464 theaters (-957)/ $605K Fri. /$1M Sat/$610K  Sun/ 3-day cume: $2.24M (-46%)/Total: $85.5M/ Wk 5

9. Only the Brave  (SONY), 2,073 theaters (-504)/ $562K Fri. /$825K Sat/ $523K Sun/ 3-day cume: $1.91M (-45%)/Total: $15.3M/ Wk 3

10. Let There Be Light  (ATLAS), 700 theaters (+327) / $523K Fri. /$718K Sat/ $467K Sun/ 3-day cume: $1.7M (-1%)/Total: $4.1M/Wk 2

Notables:

Suburbicon  (PAR), 2,046 theaters / $360K Fri.  / $515K Sat/$285K Sun/3-day cume: $1.16M (-54%)/Total: $5M/Wk 2

LBJ  (ELEC), 659 theaters  / $330k Fri. /$468K Sat/$340K Sun/3-day cume: $1.1M/ Wk 1

Lady Bird  (A24), 4 theaters  / $108KFri. /$147K Sat/ Sun $120K/PTA: $93K/3-day cume: $375,6K / Wk 1

Last Flag Flying  (AMZ/LG), 4 theaters  / $11,8K Fri. /$19K Sat/$11,3K Sun/PTA: $10,5K /3-day cume: $42K / Wk 1

Sat. AM Write-thru, 8:02 AM on Friday 3rd update, 11:10PM: When Marvel boss Kevin Feige announced the title for the third Thor back in October 2014, he said that Ragnarok meant “the end of all things”. When it comes to this weekend’s box office, Thor: Ragnarok isn’t the end of anything, rather the beginning of the holiday season for exhibitors. Let their share prices soar. According to latenight ticket sales right now, Thor: Ragnarok has clocked a $46.8M opening day (including $14.5M previews) and is flying toward an opening between $116.5M-$118M+ at 4,080 theaters, the 7th best opening in November, and the 9th title to open north of $100M for the month. No wonder why other studios are envious of Marvel: Typically we expect threequels to sag in their openings, but here’s Thor:Ragnarok pouncing on all box office statistics and blasting away its 2011 opening ($65.7M) and 2013 sequel Thor: The Dark World ($85.7M).

CinemaScore audiences gave Thor: Ragnarok an ‘A’ CinemaScore tonight, the 12th ‘A’ earned by a Marvel Cinematic Universe title, and the highest CinemaScore ever for a Thor movie. With each movie, the audience response has gotten better moving from a B+ with Thor to A- with Thor: Dark World to now. Between Doctor Strange and Moana last November, Disney owned a third of the month’s $960M business. Expect that share to be higher this month after Disney/Pixar’s Coco opens over Thanksgiving and pulls in every member of the family from toddlers to grandparents. It’s that good and will move everyone to tears in the Toy Story 3 sense of the word.

Currently, Thor: Ragnarok is expected to dip 12% on Saturday with roughly $40.5M, but the groundswell of great buzz could push the beefcake superhero higher.  As PostTrack indicated, already a third of Thursday night’s audience plans to see this threequel again.

What’s working here? Marvel never takes the development of their sequels for granted and this one took three years to make. That speaks to Marvel’s sense of perfectionism and how they’re not in the business of rushing films out for a cash grab. Quality and excellent box office results go hand-in-hand. In October 2014, the pic’s first two screenwriters, Thor: Dark World‘s Christopher Yost and Marvel TV writer Craig Kyle were hired to write a first draft. That month Marvel boss Kevin Feige announced the title of the Thor threequel with a release date of July 28, 2017 (Boy, the difference Ragnarok would have made at the summer box office). By February 2015, Marvel needed more time so Thor: Ragnarok was pushed to Nov. 3, 2017. By that October, Oscar-nominated live action short Two Cars, One Night director Taika Waititi became attached after others lobbied for the job. Marvel presented ten ideas to prospective candidates and asked them to come back with a clearer vision of the feature. Waititi came back with a sizzle reel that blew the Marvel team’s socks off. That included using clips from other films including Big Trouble in Little China and scoring the reel to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” which was used in the final cut of the movie and in the pic’s marketing materials to set its anarchistic, visual tone. Typically Marvel doesn’t encourage sizzle reels, but Waititi’s proved how he would define the picture.

The big marketing hook for Ragnarok was its Thor vs. Hulk fight, a battle which has occurred at least 15 times throughout the Marvel comics and began in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s 1963 The Avengers No. 3. In that comic, Hulk had turned against the Avengers. The team then tried to bring him under their control and tracked the green monster to New Mexico where Hulk and Thor engaged in a battle on a speeding train. The fight resulted in Hulk tying Thor up in railroad tracks. There was another fight whereby Hulk teamed with Mjolnir to fight Thor.

The April debut of the first teaser-trailer smashed Disney and Marvel Studios records with 137M views worldwide in the first 24 hours, beating out Beauty and the Beast’s 127M+ and Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ 112M. And following the film’s Comic-Con panel and trailer debut in July, Thor: Ragnarok led social media buzz for movies for three straight weeks, according to comScore’s PreAct tracking.

 Thor: Ragnarok topped Fandango’s most-anticipated fall movies list. Advance ticket sales launched with an exclusive in-game spot in the Thursday Night Football NFL season opener and the debut of seven character motion posters, plus Twitter partnership with Fooji. Other notable sport surrounds included Mayweather v McGregor and Canelo v GGG fights.  October was rebranded as “31 Days of Helaween” with Twitter emoji, Facebook ios stickers, Snapchat lens, and custom content created with Awesomeness TV influencers and Disney Digital Network. Promotional partners for the threequel included Red Robin, Synchrony Financial, United Healthcare, Renault (Brazil), and Screenvision Media.

Critics have embraced Thor: Ragnarok with a 93% Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, the best RT since 2008’s Iron Man (94%). New York Post‘s Sara Stewart says, “It’s witty, it’s weird and it goes against decades of bloated, overserious comics fare,” while New Yorker‘s Richard Brody beams that Thor: Ragnarok works because Marvel is entrusting the property to indie director Waititi’s sensibilities: “A sensibility that, with comedy and cleverness, reflects detectable delight in turning the giant toolbox of the expensive cinema into a toy chest.”

It looks like older women finally came out to see STXfilms’ A Bad Moms Christmas which is looking at $5.5M today, +175% over Thursday with a three-day of $15.7M for the weekend and $20M+ for the five-day stretch. It’s an OK result for a $28M budgeted-sequel, but not spectacular. Many rival distributors have dinged STXfilms for releasing this R-rated female raunchy comedy on a Wednesday. Opening on a Friday sends a message to moviegoers that your film is an event. But what’s really slowing A Bad Moms Christmas down is its exit polls and word of mouth: The pic has a B CinemaScore to the first installment’s A, and the overall positive score on PostTrak is a very low 67%. Women over 25 (58%) gave it a 70% overall positive score and females under 25 enjoyed it at 85% — but the latter isn’t showing up en mass, repping only 14% of the audience. Social media monitor RelishMix heading into the weekend noticed, “the convo surrounding the Bad Moms sequel is mixed down-the-middle. On Facebook, many women are expressing interest in girls night outs with friends/other moms while there’s also been dissent surrounding the premise of the film which some continue to protest sequel-mania.  Other convo suggests that this franchise could be spun-off with other holiday themes like Bad Moms Easter, New Years, Thanksgiving.  There’s even chatter about the timing regarding a Christmas title while it’s still fall.”

These B.O. results aren’t that far from the results of DreamWorks/Paramount’s Office Christmas Party last year ($17.5M three-day, $20.3M five-day, Friday-Tuesday) even though that pulled in a 50/50 male-to-female split. Office Christmas Party was co-storied by A Bad Moms Christmas helmers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. At $45M, that all-star raunch was more expensive than A Bad Moms Christmas. One upside here is that A Bad Moms Christmas has two months of play versus Office Christmas Party‘s three weeks. Still, some think that A Bad Moms Christmas will end up where Office Christmas Party did at $54.8M. It’s an understatement to say that raunchy comedies don’t work anymore on the big screen. The sub-genre needs to be blown up and evolved. One of the reasons why STXfilms went ahead with a sequel is because they noticed the hashtag #badmoms trending on social well after the first movie opened with mothers posting crazy photos of themselves online (read a woman with an infant drinking wine). The want for a sequel seemed to be there with the creators believed the best way to raise the stakes was with a Christmas setting.

A Bad Moms Christmas really tried to take a hold of social with their castmembers working overtime to promote it with a strong social media universe of 228M across YouTube views, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The problem per RelishMix is that STXfilms is still a young studio, so when materials post, they don’t spread like wildfire. Compare this to a studio like Disney, whose sister TV networks, radio and brands further fuel materials to go viral. The repost rate from 43 A Bad Moms Christmas clips on YouTube is 3:1 well behind the 9:1 average for this type of film according to RelishMix. Notable online videos came from Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair where Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Kathryn Hahn were involved in Truth or Dare Jenga (800K views) and touching weird things in a box (1.8M). Bell at 7M is by far the social media leader in the cast across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This hysterical Price is Right appearance tweeted by Bell received 9K likes and 1K retweets:

https://twitter.com/IMKristenBell/status/924082205336289281

20th and 21st Century presidential biopics have always been a hard sell (i.e. Nixon, W), and Electric Entertainment’s LBJ is grossed a low $350K Friday at 652 sites and $1M for the weekend. RelishMix says, “On social, the inclusion of super liberal Woody Harrelson as the title character has many moviegoers disinterested in this title. Further, chatter suggests LBJ was not a beloved President – and that the tone of materials for the film rubs most cinema-goers the wrong way while some say the acting and story looks intriguing and convo on the whole is mixed, definitely leaning negative.  And, materials for the film are light in volume which is a problem when Harrelson’s recent appearance on Bill Maher is one of the biggest clips.”

On the positive side among indie distributed pics, A24’s Lady Bird from director/actress Greta Gerwig is currently posting the second best theater average of 2017 with $80K at four New York and Los Angeles venues after Lionsgate/Amazon’s The Big Sick which charted $84K per theater in its opening weekend. Not doing so hot: Lionsgate/Amazon’s Richard Linklater Vietnam vet dramedy Last Flag Flying at $9K per theater or $36K at four venues. Kevin Sorbo’s faith-based title Let There Be Light is hitting its niche, growing its theater count from 373 to 600 in weekend two with an estimated $1.5M to $1.7M FSS, down just -1% for a running total by Sunday of $4.1M. Pic written by Dan Gordon and Sam Sorbo follows an atheist who goes through a near-death experience in a car accident and then finds Christianity.

Industry estimates as of Friday night for the weekend of Nov. 3-5:

 1. Thor: Ragnarok (DIS), 4,080 theaters / $46.8M Fri. (includes $14.5M previews) / 3-day cume: $116.5M-$118M / Wk 1

2. A Bad Moms Christmas  (STX), 3,615 theaters / $5.5M Fri. / 3-day cume: $15.7M /Total: $20M+/ Wk 1

3. Jigsaw  (LG), 2,941 theaters / $2M Fri. (-71%) / 3-day cume: $6.1M to $6.3M (-61%)/Total: $28.59M/ Wk 2

4. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween  (LG), 2,202 theaters (-186) / $1.19M Fri. (-53%) / 3-day cume: $4.2M (-58%)/Total: $42.5M Wk 3

 5. Geostorm  (WB/SKY), 2,666 theaters (-580)/ $818K Fri. (-48%) / 3-day cume: $2.9M (-51%)/Total: $28.7M/ Wk 3

6. Happy Death Day  (UNI/BLUM), 2,184 theaters (-1,351) / $780K Fri. (-45%) / 3-day cume: $2.5M  (-50%)/ Total: $52.69M/Wk 4

7. Thank You for Your Service  (DW/UNI), 2,083 theaters (+29) / $673K Fri. (-55%) / 3-day cume: $2.2M (-38%)/Total: $7.35M/ Wk 2

8. Blade Runner 2049  (ALC/WB/SONY), 1,464 theaters (-957)/ $600K Fri. (-45%)/ 3-day cume: $2.1M (-45%)/Total: $85.3M/ Wk 5

9. Only the Brave  (SONY), 2,073 theaters (-504)/ $560K Fri. (-52%) / 3-day cume: $1.85M (-53%)/Total: $15M+/ Wk 3

10. Let There Be Light  (ATLAS), 600 theaters (+227) / $510K Fri. (-15%) / 3-day cume: $1.5M to $1.7M (-1%)/Total: $4.1M/Wk 2

Notables:

Suburbicon  (PAR), 2,046 theaters / $360K Fri. (-63%) / 3-day cume: $1.15M (-54%)/Total: $5M/Wk 2

LBJ  (ELEC), 659 theaters  / $330k Fri. /3-day cume: $1M/ Wk 1

Lady Bird  (A24), 4 theaters  / $108KFri. /PTA: $80K/3-day cume: $323K / Wk 1

Last Flag Flying  (AMZ/LG), 4 theaters  / $11K Fri. /PTA: $9K /3-day cume: $36K / Wk 1

Writethru Friday 8:23 AM of Thursday night 11:25PM post:  Thor: Ragnarok has come in at the high end of the range we saw last night with $14.5 million. Per Deadline sources, late yesterday we saw Thor: Ragnarok between $12M-$14M with ComScore/Screen Engine Post Trak audiences delivering a very rare 5 out of 5 stars.

Thor: Ragnarok ranks above the previews charted by November Marvel titles Thor: The Dark World ($7.1M) and last year’s Doctor Strange ($9.4M). In addition, Thor: Ragnarok‘s Thursday night outstrips that of Guardians of the Galaxy ($11.2M), Captain America: Winter Soldier ($10.2M) and even Fox/Marvel’s Deadpool ($12.7M).

Thor: Dark World‘s Thursday night repped 22% of its first-day haul of $31.8M before ending its weekend at $85.7M. Doctor Strange‘s Thursday night repped 30% of its first Friday, $31.6M, before posting a FSS of $85.06M. A full 30% of Guardians of the Galaxy’s $37.8M opening day came from its preview night.  Based on Thor: Ragnarok‘s Thursday night and what rivals are spotting for advance ticket sales and matinees right now, Thor Ragnarok is looking at a $37M-$42M Friday which would put it in a $105M-$110M opening weekend. Pretty damn good. Worldwide, by the end of the weekend, Thor: Ragnarok is expected to stand atop $400M-plus.

Hulk-size PostTrak scores here for the Marvel threequel, which is the label’s third title to play November: Overall positive score of 90%, 30% of all moviegoers vow to see Thor: Ragnarok again in theaters, while another 31% say they’ll buy the film on Blu-ray. Definite recommend is an enormous 85%, with 45% saying the threequel exceeded their expectations. Men over 25 led all moviegoers at 41% followed by females over 25 (27%), men under 25 (16%), and females under 25 (15%). That latter demo loved Thor: Ragnarok the most with a 93% overall positive score.

Thursday night’s crowd was split in regards to watching the movie in 3D. Fifty percent of attendees watched Thor: Ragnarok in 2D, 23% saw it on a PLF screen, while 24% sat in Imax theaters. At 94% fresh, Thor: Ragnarok ties with 2008’s Iron Man in regards to possessing the best Rotten Tomatoes grade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Meanwhile, STXfilms’ A Bad Moms Christmas grossed $2M in its second day, down 20% from Wednesday, for a running cume of $4.5M at 3,615 theaters. This is a Friday and Saturday night film when the pic’s hardcore older female demo should come out. It’s highly unusual for an R-rated comedy to open midweek at this time of year, which makes A Bad Moms Christmas difficult to comp.  While the movie earned a B CinemaScore to its first installment’s A, PostTrak is showing an overall 63% positive score with men under 25 (4%) and women under 25 (15%) loving the film the most, respectively, with 88% and 82% positive scores. Females overall rep 67% of the crowd through two days with women over 25 being the prime ticket buyer at 52%. Thirty-five percent of that demo took one friend with them to watch the Mila Kunis-Kristen Bell-Kathryn Hahn comedy, while 19% of them attended with 2-4 friends. A 54% definite recommend here for A Bad Moms Christmas. At 28% Rotten, A Bad Moms Christmas isn’t a critics’ movie, nor was the first film at 58%.

Electric Entertainment has Rob Reiner’s LBJ starring Woody Harrelson as the 36th President of the United States and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lady Bird Johnson at 652 locations. The pic premiered at TIFF 2016 and was acquired by Electric Entertainment.