Marvel Studios and Disney's "Thor: The Dark World" continued its march to global box office domination by bringing in an estimated $31.6 million at the North American box office on Friday.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, those numbers put it on track for an $80 million domestic debut - a nice bump over the $65.7 million the first "Thor" brought in during its opening weekend in May of 2011, but well behind the opening weekend take of Marvel's last film, "Iron Man 3." The third Iron Man film brought in $174.4 million when it opened in May, which remains the top opening weekend for a film in 2013.

Still, "Thor: The Dark World," which took in an estimated $7.1 million on Thursday night, should near or cross $300 million in global ticket sales by Sunday, THR reports. No doubt it will lap the first film's $449.3 million global total not long after that. And with last year's "Skyfall" holding the top November opening weekend of all time with $88 million, it's conceivable that "Thor 2" could outperform expectations and set a new record.

The film, which stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, and Idris Elba, was directed by Alan Taylor and is playing in theaters now.