Disney-Marvel’s Black Panther has maintained its momentum at the domestic box office, winning its fifth consecutive weekend with US$27 million from 3,834 locations.
Alicia Vikander’s Tomb Raider finished second in its opening weekend in line with expectations with US$23.5 million from 3,854 sites for Warner Bros. and MGM. The videogame-based action adventure score a B grade from moviegoers in CinemaScore exit polls.
Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions’ faith-based drama I Can Only Imagine outperformed forecasts with US$17.1 million at 1,629 venues, notching the top per-screen average in the top 10 with US$10,476. The studio plans to expand I Can Only Imagine, based on the story behind the hit song of the same name, to more than 2,000 sites next weekend.
Disney’s second weekend of time-travel adventure A Wrinkle in Time followed in fourth with US$16.6 million at 3,980 locations, lifting its 10-day total to US$61.1 million. Wrinkle, directed by Ava DuVernay, declined by exactly half from its opening weekend.
Fox’s launch of gay teen comedy-drama Love, Simon took fifth with US$11.5 million at 2,402 venues, amid strong support from critics with a 91 per cent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Simon, starring Nick Robinson as a conflicted high schooler, notched an A+ CinemaScore with the audience, giving Fox execs hope for strong word of mouth and extended playability. Females comprised 58 per cent of ticket buyers.
Black Panther has become only the seventh title to pass the US$600 million milestone at the North American box office, and is the second-fastest film to do so. It’s the fourth-highest fifth weekend of all time, and the first time a film has held the top spot for five weekends in a row since 2009’s Avatar.
Black Panther has totalled a stunning US$605.4 million in 31 days. It’s poised to pass Star Wars: The Last Jedi (US$619.8 million) for sixth place and The Avengers (US$623.4 million) for fifth place on the all-time domestic list by the end of next weekend. And it’s likely to eventually pass Jurassic World at US$652.3 million for fourth place and Titanic at US$659 million for third place. Star Wars: The Force Awakens tops the list at US$936 million followed by Avatar at US$760 million.
The weekend’s overall box office took in about US$130 million, down 50 per cent from the same weekend last year when Disney’s Beauty and the Beast opened with US$174.5 million. Thanks to Black Panther, the year-to-date box office is up 2 per cent over the same period a year ago at US$2.5 billion, according to comScore.
“Black Panther continues to astonish as it shows incredible strength fully five weeks into its amazing run as it takes on another batch of notable newcomers and comes out on top,” said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore.
Black Panther will face competition next weekend from Universal-Legendary’s launch of Pacific Rim: Uprising and Paramount’s animated comedy Sherlock Gnomes. Recent tracking for the Pacific Rim sequel has been in the US$20 million to US$30 million range while Sherlock Gnomes was in the US$13 million to US$18 million range.
Warner Bros’ fourth weekend of R-rated comedy Game Night took sixth place with US$5.6 million at 2,686 locations, pushing its 24-day gross past US$54 million. Sony’s sixth weekend of family comedy Peter Rabbit followed with US$5.2 million at 2,725 sites for a 38-day total of US$102.4 million.
Aviron’s second weekend of horror sequel Strangers: Prey at Night finished eighth with US$4.8 million at 2,464 venues. Fox’s third weekend of Red Sparrow followed in ninth with US$4.5 million at 2,583 venues, pushing the Jennifer Lawrence thriller past US$39 million.
MGM’s third weekend of its Death Wish reboot rounded out the top 10 with US$3.4 million at 2,676 locations to give the Bruce Willis vehicle US$30 million in 17 days.
Paramount’s fourth weekend of Annihilation and Sony’s 13th weekend of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle tied for 11th place with US$1.7 million. Jumanji, which won its third, fourth, fifth and seventh weekends, became the 30th film to cross the US$400 million mark in domestic grosses.
Focus Features’ opening weekend of the thriller 7 Days in Entebbe came in 13th with a modest US$1.6 million at 838 locations.
