“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” continues to reign at the North American box office, thanks to no competition in the U.S. market. The latest Marvel superhero pic takes the first place for a fifth straight weekend with an estimated $11.1 million.
The Ryan Coogler-directed film has now collected $409.8 million domestically, becoming only the third film of 2022 so far to leap past the $400M mark at the domestic chart. Internationally, it has grossed $358 million for a worldwide cume of $767.8 million. It is expected to pass fellow Marvel film “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($411.3 million) to rank as the second top-grossing title of the year in North America, and overtake DC’s “The Batman” as No. 5 for the year ($770.8 million) globally.
Overall, it’s another dismal weekend at box office, with no wide release this week until “Avatar: The Way of Water” arrives on December 16. The rest of the top five doesn’t see any change in order as “Violent Night” still finishes in the runner-up place with an estimated $8.7 million.
“Strange World” places third with approximately $3.6 million, followed by “The Menu” at No. 4 with an estimated $2.7 million. “Devotion” places fifth with approximately $1.99 million.
“A five-week stand at the top of box office charts – while great for ‘Wakanda Forever’ – is not a formula for ongoing success for the industry,” Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore, weighs in. “This has placed enormous pressure on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ to deliver big when it opens later this week.” He adds, “A lack of consistent crowd-pleasers has made for an uncharacteristically slow holiday season.”
The only bright spot at this week’s chart comes from the specialty box office. Darren Aronofsky’s awards contender “The Whale”, starring Brendan Fraser, enters the chart at No. 13 with an estimated $360,000 after launching in six theaters. That’s an average of $60,000 per location, which is a strong opening for a limited release.
Top 10 of North America Box Office (Dec. 09-11, 2022):
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – $11.1 million
“Violent Night” – $8.7 million
“Strange World” – $3.6 million
“The Menu” – $2.7 million
“Devotion” – $1.99 million
“Black Adam” – $1.34 million
“The Fabelmans” – $1.2 million
“I Heard the Bells” – $750,713
“Spoiler Alert” – $700,407
“Ticket to Paradise” – $699,795
