"Thor: Love and Thunder" tops North American box office on opening weekend

Disney and Marvel Studios' superhero film "Thor: Love and Thunder" dominated North American box office on its debut weekend with a three-day estimate of 143 million U.S. dollars, according to studio figures released July 10 by measurement firm Comscore.

The film also generated 159 million dollars internationally this weekend for a global cumulative of 302 million dollars to date.

Movie theater owners are encouraged because the film continues a strong summer movie season, commented Variety, a top Hollywood trade publication, on the film's impressive opening.

Directed by New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, the fourth solo Thor film and the sequel to 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok" stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, a fictional character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale.

"Thor: Love and Thunder" holds an approval rating of 68 percent based on 314 reviews to date on review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. According to market research firm CinemaScore, the film received a "B+" rating from audience.