‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Rocks the Box Office

The haul makes it the third-highest domestic opening-weekend gross since theaters reopened following the pandemic, after two other Marvel-produced films, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” This weekend, Thor snagged the No. 1 spot at the box office from “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” an animated feature from NBCUniversal and Illumination Entertainment that was boosted by viral marketing from fans on social media.

Critics’ appraisals have been mixed, with review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes showing a 68% score for the Thor movie, compared with 93% for 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” the previous film about the hero. Disney shares are down 0.8% premarket to $95.13.

Over the last 13 years, Marvel Studios releases, led by titles related to the intergalactic superhero team known as The Avengers, have grossed more than $26 billion, far more than any other individual studio.

Kevin Feige,

the comic-book superfan turned president of Marvel Studios, has become widely regarded in Hollywood as one of Disney’s most indispensable executives—some Disney insiders refer to him as the company’s second-most important employee after chief executive

Bob Chapek.

“Thor” follows the adventures of the hammer-wielding Norse demigod who first appeared in comic-book form in the 1960s and is the first Marvel character to receive four individual theatrical titles. (Iron Man and Captain America each got three, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange have two each so far).

Disney hailed “Thor: Love and Thunder”—which features longtime Marvel stars Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman and introduces Christian Bale to the franchise as the supervillain Gorr the God Butcher—as especially impressive because it didn’t receive any cross-promotion from a complimentary series on the Disney+ streaming service, as was the case with “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

The most-recent Thor film performed 16% better domestically and 20% better internationally in its opening weekend than “Thor: Ragnarok” did in 2017.

“That performance, exceeding those levels from before the pandemic, is pretty remarkable,” said

Tony Chambers,

Disney’s head of global theatrical distribution. “‘Thor’ is very much a stand-alone movie.”

Marvel’s previous blockbuster, the “Doctor Strange” sequel, had a story line that overlapped with characters and plots from the Disney+ series “WandaVision,” and benefited from its title character’s involvement in the Spider-Man story line. It kicked off a strong summer movie season with a $187 million domestic opening and went on to a global total box-office haul of $961 million.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” was directed and co-written by Taika Waititi, a New Zealand director known for his wisecracking, sardonic approach to films with heavy subject matter, including “Thor: Ragnarok” and the Holocaust tragicomedy “Jojo Rabbit.”

In “Love and Thunder,” members of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” superhero squad team up with Thor, played by Mr. Hemsworth, to fight off Gorr, while Thor navigates his romantic feelings for Ms. Portman’s Jane Foster character, a human scientist and Thor’s erstwhile girlfriend who is suffering from cancer.

“It’s been said that Marvel tries to make movies in different genres. ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ would be the comedy, and it beautifully morphs into a movie about sacrifice and love,” said

Jason Squire,

a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts who counts Mr. Feige among his former pupils. “Movies have always been escapist, and every Marvel movie delivers an entertaining escape from the headlines and disruption of the day.”

Marvel movies are especially important for Disney because of the way the company plugs them into its line of products including theme-park rides, immersive entertainment experiences, streaming platforms and merchandise collections, which allows the company to monetize its titles repeatedly.

“Thor” and other members of The Avengers, the team of peacekeeping superheroes, have produced some of Disney’s biggest hits, including the highest-grossing movie in history, “Avengers: Endgame.”

Later this year, a “Black Panther” sequel is due out, while next year’s slate includes an Ant-Man movie and sequel to “Captain Marvel” that is only tangentially connected to the Avengers.

Elsewhere in Hollywood, the new “Minions” film grossed $45.5 million domestically, a strong second-weekend showing for the animated film, while “Top Gun: Maverick” fell to the third-place spot, grossing $15.5 million, according to box-office tracker Comscore.

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com