‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Hits Theaters With a Thunderclap<br />In early September, an informal moviegoer poll conducted by Fandango, the online ticket seller, found<br />that Mr. Waititi’s film was the most anticipated offering of the fall — a surprise to Hollywood, which had expected “Justice League,” produced by Warner Bros. and set for Nov. 17 release, to easily dominate.<br />Directed by Taika Waititi, an eccentric New Zealand filmmaker whose previous three movies played in art houses<br />and collected a grand total of $9.5 million, “Thor: Ragnarok” has taken in an additional $306 million overseas, Disney said on Sunday.<br />That total was colossal even by superhero standards — about 42 percent higher than opening-weekend results for “Doctor Strange,” released last fall,<br />and 3 percent higher than what “Spider-Man: Homecoming” initially managed over the summer.<br />LOS ANGELES — After a four-month absence from theaters, Walt Disney Studios returned over the weekend, releasing “Thor: Ragnarok” to blockbuster results<br />and teaching rival studios a lesson about how to approach sequels to sequels.<br />“Thor: Ragnarok,” the latest film from Disney-owned Marvel Studios, took in an<br />estimated $121 million on 4,080 screens in North America over the weekend.
