“Nope” rules at North American Box Office, Thor stumbles to the second place

United States: Universal Studio’s newest Horror Flick, “Nope”, has opened at the top of the North American Box office, beating the latest release of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Thor” franchise. According to the reports of industry watcher Exhibitor Relations that came in on Sunday, The horror Flick has reportedly earned an estimated $44 million.

The film is an alien-invasion sci-fi mystery featuring a Black family struggling to make ends meet on their bleached California horse ranch. It is the highly-anticipated latest endeavour by writer and director Jordan Peele, whose 2017 debut film “Get Out” had earned him excellent reviews.

The film stars Daniel Kaluuya, who had previously stolen the show in “Get Out” and managed to bump “Thor: Love and Thunder” to the second spot after Marvel’s newest Superhero blockbuster spent two weeks at number one.

“This is indeed an excellent opening for an original horror movie,” remarked analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research

Thor: Love and Thunder, an action comedy that stars a muscle-clad, self-parodying Chris Hemsworth as the space Viking who finds himself pining for his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), managed to pull in $22.1 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period ending up with a worldwide cumulative total of $276 million.

The third spot was snagged by “Minions: The Rise of Gru.” The latest goofy instalment in Universal’s animated “Despicable Me” franchise took in $17.7 million, for a cumulative total of $298 million.

“Where the Crawdads Sing” also slipped one spot to end up in fourth place. Sony’s adaptation of Delia Owens’ novel featuring an abandoned girl who grows up in the marshland of 1950s and 60s North Carolina, and years later at a murder trial, looks back on that rough and violent upbringing of the girl, managed to earn $10.3 million.

Further, dropping from fourth to fifth place was Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” the crowd-pleasing sequel to the 1986 original film, once again features Tom Cruise as arrogant American Navy test pilot Pete. “Maverick” Mitchell. In its ninth week in theatres, the film has now grossed an eye-popping $635 million worldwide.

Baz Luhrmann’s music biopic “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as the King alongside Tom Hanks as his exploitative manager Col. Tom Parker, took sixth in the Warner Bros film’s fifth weekend of release, at $6.3 million.