‘Thor: The Dark World’, It’s Hammer Time For Marvel
Thor: The Dark World is breaking worldwide box office records. Can we say, it’s hammer time?
After a record breaking opening weekend, the Marvel superhero and villain Loki have brought in $327 million worldwide, with $86.1 million of domestic earnings.
The incredible success of the film has given The Dark World an estimated $25 million surplus over the original Thor.
The main stars Chris Hemsworth (Rush) and Tom Hiddleston (War Horse) are fast becoming favorites for their roles as Thor and Loki respectively, which is making them household names.
Hiddleston especially, has come out as one of the most versatile actors, playing a very complex villain.
However, the 32-year-old thespian is nothing like his character, not even close. As an example, on Halloween day he showed up at a screening of Thor: The Dark World for 300 kids in New York City, dressed in full Loki garb.
The kids were in shock and Hiddleston loved every minute of it.
“Sometimes it’s easy to forget that’s who we’re doing it for,” Tom Hiddleston told USA Today. “It really brought home to me what a privilege it is to occupy a place in this particular universe. When you hear the pleasure and delight of children, it makes it all worth it.”
Critics are praising his performance as Loki. In an interview published in Contact Music, Tom Hiddleston says his character shares more than ever before about what makes him who he is.
“In The Dark World is where we really get into the nitty-gritty at home,” the actor says. “It’s the meat and potatoes, the muscularity of their relationship and particular chemistry that can yield enormous drama, battles of wits and wills and also, thrillingly, some humor.”
The eloquent Brit, who is playing Loki for the third time (previously he appeared in Thor and The Avengers), says this time Loki also shows how vulnerable he is after his brother Thor calls him out.
As to the main star, Australian hunk Chris Hemsworth, he brings down the hammer as Thor for the second time. He is known for his good looks, but has also been trying to diversify his roles and recently portrayed playboy Formula One driver James Hunt in Ron Howard’s action film Rush.
In the sequel, Thor struggles with missing his human love, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), whom he was forced to leave behind in the original, but he promised to return and makes every effort to do so.
The film, rated PG-13, received an excellent A- CinemaScore from audiences who flocked en masse to watch the anticipated sequel.
Rotten Tomatoes assigned the film a 67 percent tomatometer, a lower rating than the audience, but a good rating for the very hard to please site.
Thor: The Dark World’s opening is behind only Iron Man 3 ($174 million), Man of Steel($116 million) and Fast and Furious 6 ($97 million) this year, all of which are summer releases.
It also fell just short of the $88 million that the James Bond last installment, Skyfall, opened with on the same weekend last year.
Thor: The Dark World’s box office dominance was aided by the fact that there were no other big name releases on the same weekend. The Marvel superhero had free reign at the box office, with Bad Grandpa in second place with $11.3 million and Free Birds in third with $11.2 million.
