Three newcomers – Where the Crawdads Sing, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – could not wrestle Thor: Love and Thunder from its top spot at the box office.

Even though it dropped a steep 68 %, Chris Hemsworth’s fourth installment in the Marvel stand-alone franchise stayed number one with $46 million.

The three debuting films also could not budge Minions: Rise of Gru from second place as the animated film voiced by Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, and Pierre Coffin grossed $26 million.

But Where the Crawdads Sing, the Olivia Newman-directed drama produced by Reese Witherspoon, did manage to snag the number three rank. The film adaptation of Delia Owens’ bestselling novel about a girl who grows up by herself in a North Carolina marsh in the 1950s drew $17 million.

Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People), Taylor John Smith (Sharp Objects), and Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness), Where the Crawdads Sing opened slightly ahead of earnings forecast.

In fourth place and still going spectacularly strong after eight weeks was Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick which hauled in another $12 million. The star’s biggest grossing movie has now earned $617.9 million domestically.

The Top Gun sequel is poised to fly past Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Avengers. The pundits are predicting that the Joseph Kosinski-directed blockbuster may even outrank Jurassic World and Titanic in their eighth and seventh rankings, respectively, in the top ten biggest earning domestic movies.

On its fourth week, Elvis – boasting a critically acclaimed performance by Austin Butler in the title role – claimed the fifth berth and $7.6 million. Baz Luhrmann’s musical biopic of Elvis Presley has grossed $106.2 million in North America so far.

Given the hit reception of animated films this year, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hanks, directed by Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier, and Rob Minkoff, was expected to do better but settled for sixth place and $6.2 million.

Inspired by Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks’ beloved 1974 satirical western black comedy, Paws of Fury – revolving around a dog who fantasizes about becoming a samurai – is voiced by an impressive cast: Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, George Takei, Djimon Hounsou, Michelle Yeoh and Brooks himself.

The third film to open in the recent weekend, Anthony Fabian’s Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, landed ninth with $1.9 million. A critics’ favorite, the comedy-drama stars Lesley Manville as a widowed cleaning lady in 1950s London whose obsession with a Christian Dior couture dress takes her on an adventure in the City of Light. Jason Isaacs, Isabelle Huppert, and Lambert Wilson costar.

Making up the rest of the top ten were The Black Phone (in seventh), $5.3 million; Jurassic World Dominion (eighth), $4.9 million; and Lightyear (tenth) $1.3 million.

With several blockbusters in 2022, this year’s grosses in the United States and Canada are already – this early — close to matching last year’s overall domestic earnings of $4.48 billion.

Internationally, Thor and his hammer powered their way to a $60.1 million show of force in more than 40 territories. The Marvel Cinematic Universe entry is close to hitting the $500 million worldwide benchmark as this piece is being written.

Those yellow creatures did surpass the half-a-billion dollar milestone. Minions: The Rise of Gru, which has accumulated an offshore total of $270.1 million, picked up a global tally of $532.7 million.

Maverick collected $19.2 million in 60-plus territories to increase its international ticket earnings to $619.4 million.

Jurassic World Dominion, boosted by its status as the only major Hollywood title to enjoy distribution in China in recent months, reached the $900 million benchmark.