Disney have had some troubling releases in the past few years, with potential blockbusters (we won't name names) bombing tremendously when they came to the big screen. Its a good thing that the Marvel branch of their movie operations is performing so well then, as the latest Disney/Marvel release, Thor 2: The Dark World, has already made a sizeable impression on the overseas market since it was released last week.

Natalie Portman Chris Hemsworth
Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth are back for Thor 2: The Dark World

Opening in the UK and France on Wednesday, 30 October, and other major markets Australia and Germany a day later, the film was the runaway winner at the weekend box office in each of these foreign markets and early predictions have estimated that the film could have made up to $100 million already. According to Box Office Mojo, the film has made an estimated $109,400,000 from foreign markets since it was released last week. When the film opens in the US on 8 November, there is a good chance that it could match this kind of popular reception and go on to make a hefty amount in the box office by the end of its run.

Why are people flocking to the new Thor?

This initial intake has not only given Disney something to rest easy with following the failure of certain non-Marvel releases, but has also moved the overall earnings for studio way over the $2 billion mark in overseas markets this year, the first time it has ever managed this feat. Thanks largely to the immense success of Iron Man 3 and Monsters University, Disney have so far brought in more than $2.3 billion in the overseas market alone (according to The Hollywood Reporter), and with the Thor sequel only making its first steps into the box office, this number will no doubt go up even further.

Loki
Tom Hiddleston returns as the trouble-making Loki

The early success of Thor 2 hopefully points towards a much more profitable month at the box office after a thoroughly disappointing October saw a number of potentially successful films gross way under their first estimates. Whilst Jackass Present: Bad Grandpa and Captain Phillips performed admirably at the box office last month, the only film to make any considerable impression among cinema goers was Gravity, which flew past the $200 million mark in the domestic box office this weekend.

With Thor 2 being joined this month by the new Hunger Games film and some potential Oscar bait - including Philomena and the expansion of 12 Years a Slave - this month will probably be more soothing for the heads of movie bosses than the last.

Watch the trailer for Thor 2: The Dark World

Thor and Odin
Thor (Hemsworth) and Odin (Anthony Hopkins) comtemplate their next challenge