Thor: Ragnarok breaks 2017 NZ box office records

Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok has broken records by pulling in more than $2.2 million at the New Zealand box office on its opening weekend.

The Marvel superhero movie has landed the biggest opening of any film in 2017 so far and the biggest opening for any film ever in the month of October.

Thor: Ragnarok lands some of Marvel's best reviews yet
Waititi demanded Hemsworth do a shirtless scene

Waititi previously scored impressive box-office openings in his home country with Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but his latest surpasses both, along with both the previous Thor films.

The local haul helped Thor: Ragnarok's thunder to more than US$107.6 million (NZ$156.5 million) at the global box office on its opening weekend.

That figure is all the more impressive because it has yet to debut in North America, the largest market in the world for many films.

The movie had a reported production budget of US$180 million - astronomically huge in terms of Waititi's previous films, but standard for Marvel - and it looks like Disney will make a significant profit.

Thor: Ragnarok opens in North America on November 2, and will need to beat Beauty and the Beast's US$174.8 million opening weekend to become the best of the year.