Hammer Time!

Thor Tops Weekend Box Office

Mel Gibson's "comeback film" The Beaver disappoints.

Despite boasting a Shakespearean director and a first-time star, Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of the Marvel superhero Thor crushed its competition at the box office, earning $66 million in its opening weekend. The $150 million-budgeted film is being distributed by Paramount, and stars Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding Norse god, and Natalie Portman as his love interest. Coming in second was the fifth entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Fast Five, raking in $32.5 million for a two-week cume of an impressive $139.9 million. Dueling romantic comedies Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed followed, with opening weekend takes of $13.7 million and $13.2 million respectively, while Jodie Foster’s Mel Gibson-starring film The Beaver failed to impress in limited release, earning just $104,000 from 22 theaters for a per-theater average of about $4,700.