Aussie actor's Thor is top movie in US

In a tale of two Hollywood careers, Australian actor Chris Hemsworth's newly-minted star status has shone bright at the North American box office while the former king of Tinseltown, Mel Gibson, flamed out.
Hemsworth, the 27-year-old Melbourne-born former Home & Away actor, proved he was a bona fide, bankable Hollywood star on the weekend when his Marvel Comics' superhero film, Thor, dominated US and Canadian cinemas to be the number one movie with $US66 million ($A61.64 million) in takings.
Thor has also been a hit in Australia and other nations, giving the film a worldwide gross of $US242 million ($A226.03 million).
The film added another $1.7 million to its Australian box office total at the weekend, with its local take over three weeks now sitting at almost $15 million.
On the flip-side, US-born, Australian-raised Gibson, 55, suffered another career body blow.
Gibson's new dark comedy-drama, The Beaver, billed as his comeback movie after headline-grabbing legal troubles with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, opened in North America with a thud, earning just $US104,000 ($A97,137).
The Beaver, directed by Gibson's longtime friend Jodie Foster, opened in just 22 theatres compared to Thor's 3995, but the result was disappointing following positive reviews from film critics at high-profile publications including the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Time and Rolling Stone.
Gibson plays the chief executive of a toy company who suffers a mental breakdown, hits the bottle and communicates via a beaver puppet he wears on his hand.
The Beaver is scheduled to open in Australian cinemas in July.
"If you can get past your feelings for the troubled Gibson, you get to watch a high-wire performance of the highest calibre," Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers wrote in his review.
Hemsworth appears to be Hollywood's new chosen one, walking a similar path fellow Aussie and Avatar star Sam Worthington walked a year ago.
In Thor Hemsworth plays the title role, a hammer-tossing Norse god with a temper problem banished to Earth by his father, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins. On Earth he falls in love with a beautiful scientist (Natalie Portman).
Hemsworth will reprise the Thor role next year in the all-star superhero film, The Avengers, co-starring Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Evans (Captain America), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) and Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury).
"A star is born," Perth-born Rob Marsala, a talent manager at Hollywood agency Wishlab, told AAP after it was announced Thor beat industry expectations with its $US66 million box office take.
"Chris was hot property in Hollywood before Thor scored the number one slot at the box office, but the result confirms his status as one of the top young actors in the industry."