'Thor: Ragnarok' scores biggest Marvel opening of 2017 in the Philippines

It's a good day to be a Marvel fan.

Thor: Ragnarok may not come out for another week in the United States, but it’s already opened to huge numbers in the Philippines.

The third entry in the Thor franchise opened on Oct. 25 in the Philippines, raking in P38.5 million (roughly $45 million) according to ABS CBN News. This is the best opening for a Marvel film in the country yet this year, beating out Spider-Man: Homecoming (P6.4 million total) and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 (P4.27 million total).

This also marks the fourth biggest opening for a film this year in the Philippines overall, only trailing behind Beauty and the Beast, Wonder Woman and Fast & Furious 8. Given that Thor has only been out for one day now and is already in fourth place, it has a real shot of catching all those films.

Directed by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople), Thor: Ragnarok is picking up after the events of The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. The film primarily takes place in the outer regions of Asgard, and sees Chris Hemsworth return as playing the title character. In addition, Mark Ruffalo shows up as Bruce Banner — aka the Hulk — and the two team up to stop a new threat who threatens to destroy the entire known universe, named Hela (Cate Blanchett). The film also stars Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hiddleston (returning as Loki, of course), Karl Urban and Tessa Thompson. 

So far, the film has been opening to great reviews. Critics are praising it for its sense of humor and Guardians of the Galaxy-like tone. At the time of this posting, it’s sitting at a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Variety reports that early box office tracking numbers for Thor: Ragnarok in the United States are coming in at over $100 million. The first Thor movie, released in 2011, made $65 on its opening weekend and Thor: The Dark World, released in 2013, made $85 million. For comparisons sake, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 made $146.5 million on opening weekend and Spider-Man: Homecoming made $117 million.

We’ll have to wait until Nov. 3 to see if Thor: Ragnarok is going to be able to real in those high of numbers — although, it’s certainly going to be close. As for now, we’re mostly just jealous of our friends over in the Philippines who have already gotten to see the movie.

Watch the trailer for Thor: Ragnarok here, and see where it came in on the list of movies still coming out in 2017 that we're most anticipated for by clicking here.