The projections for Thor: Ragnarok have improved to a potential $100 million opening weekend. Marvel Studios is less than two weeks away from releasing the film, and all signs point toward a hit. The third installment of the Thor franchise is taking a drastic turn in tone thanks director Taika Waititi. This time, Thor will not be alone in this adventure with his Avengers pal Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) coming along for the ride.

Marvel has continued to promote the film heavily over the last few weeks and the results have apparently been successful. Ragnarok topped social media buzz this past week in light of the review embargo lifting, which has resulted in the film's prospects improving from a previously reported $90 million opening.

Related: Thor: Ragnarok Early Reviews Promise The Franchise's Best

Variety now reports Thor: Ragnarok is tracking to pull in over $100 million in its opening three-day weekend. This latest tracking data falls in line with the early projections for the movieThor 3 matching these projections would be a great start for the film, and it would actually be the franchise's best opening.

Thor Fights Hulk in Ragnarok

The first Thor opened to a reasonable $65.7M back in 2010, only for Thor: The Dark World to come in at $85.7M in 2013. Marvel Cinematic Universe sequels typically receive a bump as more people discover the films, and Thor is one of the few MCU franchises to not open above $100M. Other films include Doctor StrangeAnt-Man, and The Incredible Hulk which are (so far) single installments - but Ant-Man & The Wasp will change that next year and Doctor Strange 2 continues to look to be part of Marvel Studios' plans.

Ragnarok will be the eighth MCU movie to top $100M in its opening weekend if it can meet these expectations. It would mark the third straight MCU film to cross this mark in its first three days - a feat Marvel Studios has never done before. The previous seven movies went on to gross over $1 billion on average, but that figure drops to $946.7M globally if both Avengers movies are taken out of the equation.

Marvel would undoubtedly be pleased with those results, but Thor has yet to prove it has the draw of other MCU franchises. The Dark World is currently the best earner globally for this franchise, but at $644.8M worldwide, it could easily be surpassed. Thor: Ragnarok is only a few days away from premiering in theaters and current data shows there will be plenty of interest in the next Marvel Cinematic Universe installment.

NEXT: Why Marvel Movies Always Release Later in the US

Source: Variety

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