Thor: Ragnarok Gains More Hype Thanks to Mayweather-McGregor Fight

Thor: Ragnarok got a big boost in social media buzz over the weekend after capitalizing on the hype of the hotly anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. Given the amount of attention it’s gotten in the first two trailers for the film, it’s quite apparent that one of the centerpieces of Thor’s third solo film will be the gladiator-style match-up between the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).


The teaser and main trailer revealed pretty much the same footage each time, though, and now there appears to be a good reason why Marvel Studios was holding back on revealing any additional footage of the Thor-Hulk battle until this past Saturday. Coming in the form of a 26-second teaser clip, the video, dubbed as the “main event” by Grandmaster (Jeff Goldbloom), shows more of two Marvel titans battling it out than fans have seen before. The clip was obviously a well-timed release to coincide with the battle of real-life giants Mayweather and McGregor, and by all indications, the plan worked out beautifully.

According the media-measurement firm ComScore and its PreAct service (via Variety), Marvel’s “Main Event” clip (as well as the release of its latest poster) helped propel Thor: Ragnarok to 57,000 new social media conversations last week to top all online film buzz. To date, the third stand-alone Thor film has generated more than 850,000 new social media conversations ahead of its November 3 release.


Generating the most online buzz behind Thor: Ragnarok was the full cast announcement for the Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, which has Meryl Streep reprising her role as Donna and Lily James playing the younger version of the character. The announcement reportedly generated 40,000 new social media conversations.


Meanwhile, the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s horror thriller IT created 32,000 new conversations after an early screening for critics generated positive reactions; and Star Wars: The Last Jedi generated 23,000 new conversations following director Rian Johnson’s tweet about having fewer wipes in the film than any other previous Star Wars chapters. Also reportedly driving Star Wars buzz was the leak of information and images of the new Last Jedi toys, as well as news of a promo about the a new augmented reality app in conjunction with the film’s Force Friday II merchandising event.
Breaking into the top five for online film buzz was American Assassin, the big screen adaptation of the late Vince Flynn’s best-selling novel starring Dylan O’Brien and Michael Keaton, which generated 18,000 new social media conversations. The film opens in theaters September 15.


As to how much the social media buzz will help the business of the top five films is yet to be seen, but in the case of IT, it certainly hasn’t hurt. The film is already projected to make as much as $60 million in its first weekend when it opens on September 8.