Where the Data Ranks 2017’s Comic Book Films. Three Comic Films Debut
2017 feels like it’s shaping up to be a wild ride for comic adaptions. We look at who the real winners and losers are for this year’s comic films and dive into the numbers… not opinions.
Thor: Ragnarok is the beginning of the holiday movie season and it started out strong domestically with a little over $121 million opening in North America. That’s the seventh largest opening for a Marvel Cinematic film and beat this year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming which opened with $117 million. Thor opened with $65.7 million to go on and gross $181 million (not adjusted) domestically and $449.3 million worldwide in 2011 while Thor: The Dark World opened with $85.7 million and went on to gross $206.3 million (not adjusted) domestically and $644.6 million worldwide in 2013.
The film received an “A” Cinemascore with an audience that was 56% male and 44% female, and 63% over the age of 25.
Overseas, the film opened with an estimated $55.6 million in China, the largest ever for a November release. It also debuted with $5.2 million in India, $10.8 million in Mexico, $8.9 million in Germany, $3.5 million in Japan, and $3.7 million in Russia.
The film’s debut has pushed Marvel over $13 billion globally and $5 billion domestically.
But, Thor: Ragnarok wasn’t the only debut for comic films this week.
My Friend Dahmer opened in four theaters earning $45,000. That’s a very healthy per-theater average. Blade of the Immortal also made its domestic debut earning $42,000 in 30 theaters. The film already has earned $6.7 million from its release in Japan earlier in the year.
We missed this last week, but Spider-Man: Homecoming is still bringing in money adding about $100,000 to its domestic total. The film still leads this year’s comic adaptations.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is now at $389.6 million passing Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men: First Class, and Batman Begins in worldwide earnings.
Wonder Woman continues to add to its total as it winds down its run. The film has the highest domestic gross of the year and second highest gross/budget. The film has passed the 2002 Spider-Man when it comes to worldwide gross. It now sits at #11.
Lets compare how the big two comic companies compare for earnings. On average DC films earn $339.8 million domestically while Marvel earns $302.1 million. Internationally, Marvel rules with $472.9 million and DC lags behind with $437.4 million. There’s still work for DC when it comes to the international film market and it’ll be interesting to see how the new Thor and Justice League impact these totals.
Already, the year is an interesting one with three clear successes and a whole lot of mixed otherwise. Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, Logan, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 have done well this year. Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The LEGO Batman Movie and Smurfs: The Lost Village, and Atomic Blonde are in that debatable area, and Valerian, Wilson and Ghost in the Shell are generally disappointments. We’ll wait and see about My Friend Dahmer and Blade of the Immortal. Marvel’s Inhumans… got no clue and tough to debate since it’s a television show primarily with a limited film engagement.
Here’s where this year’s comic films stand as far as the actual numbers. With a new film opening the averages have dipped.
Total Domestic Gross: $1.938 billion
Total International Gross: $3.071 billion
Worldwide Gross: $5.009 billion
Total Reported Budgets: $1.367 million
Total “Profit”: $3.632 billion
Average Domestic Gross: $129.2 million
Average International Gross: $236.2 million
Average: Worldwide Gross: $333.9 million
Average Budget: $113.9 million
Average Profit: $220 million
Below is where the films released stand when it comes to being compared to this year’s averages. Those in green are above average while those below are red.








Kingsman: The Golden Circle was the top of the box office this past weekend earning an estimated $39 million with a budget of $104 million. That’s an improvement on the $36.2 million opening for the first film in the series which eventually went on to earn $128.3 million domestically and $414.4 worldwide. The sequel also brought in an estimated $61.2 million overseas from 55 territories.

It has broken records in just eight days with a second weekend haul of $60 million for close to $220 million in ten days domestically. The cume of $218.7 million in ten days is the largest September release ever beating Crocodile Dundee‘s $174.8 million back in 1986. That’s not adjusted for inflation, which when happens, still puts the film in the top ten. It’s just $14.2 million shy of becoming the largest R-rated horror movie of all time.