Box Office: 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Takes The Throne
Weekend box office information is provided by Daniel Garris, courtesy of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Disney's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrived in theatres in a big way this weekend with an estimated first place domestic debut of $180.00 million. The highly anticipated sequel to 2018's Black Panther debuted in line with its massive pre-release expectations, which had tended to range from $175 million to $195 million heading into the weekend. Some of the noteworthy domestic accomplishments for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever this weekend included the largest opening weekend ever for the month of November (easily surpassing the $158.07 million debut of previous record-holder The Hunger Games: Catching Fire back in 2013), the second largest opening weekend of 2022 thus far (behind only the $187.42 million start of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), the eighth largest opening weekend ever for a film in the MCU and the thirteenth largest opening weekend of all-time (and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever could potentially still inch past the $182.69 million start 2018's Incredibles 2 to move into twelfth place on the list when actuals are released on Monday). Disney currently boasts eleven of the thirteen largest opening weekend grosses of all-time, with one of the two non-Disney spots on the list belonging to Sony with its release of MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home last year.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuted 10.9 percent below the $202.00 million three-day opening of Black Panther, though Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hadn't been expected to match the opening weekend performance of Black Panther, due in part to Black Panther having caught lightning in a bottle at the box office as part of its historic run. In comparison to the most recent MCU film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opened a healthy 24.9 percent ahead of the $144.17 million debut of Thor: Love and Thunder back in July. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Tenoch Huerta and Angela Bassett. In addition to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever representing the first sequel to one of the highest grossing films of all-time, the film has additional importance due to the tragic passing of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman back in 2020.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever started out with $84.00 million on Friday (including an estimated $28.0 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 3PM), declined 32.7 percent on Saturday to take in $56.50 million and is estimated to decrease 30.1 percent on Sunday to gross $39.50 million. It should be noted that the Veterans Day holiday falling on Friday led to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever being more front-loaded towards opening day than it would have been otherwise. The audience breakdown for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever skewed 52 percent male, 48 percent female, 63 percent over 25 and 37 percent under 25. Critical reviews for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever have been good and the film looks to be going over even better with audiences given that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever received a strong A rating on CinemaScore and currently boasts a 95 percent Verified Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film's strong early word of mouth is a good sign for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever going forward, and the remainder of this year's November line-up looking weaker than usual by November standards is also likely to help out Black Panther: Wakanda Forever over the rest of the month as well.
Internationally, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever started out with an estimated $150.0 million from 50 international markets. That places the film's global launch at $330.0 million. International debuts by market for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever this weekend included $15.0 million in the United Kingdom, $13.7 million in France, $12.8 million in Mexico, $8.9 million in South Korea, $7.1 million in Brazil, $6.8 million in Australia, $6.4 million in India, $6.1 million in Indonesia, $6.1 million in Germany, $4.2 million in Italy and $3.5 million in Japan. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuted with an estimated $22.6 million from global IMAX screens ($14.2 million domestically and $8.4 million internationally). The film's domestic IMAX performance represented 7.9 percent of this weekend's overall domestic gross. All premium format screens (including IMAX) represented 34 percent of this weekend's domestic performance.
After leading the domestic box office for the past three weeks, Warner Bros. and New Line's Black Adam fell one spot this weekend to place in a distant second with an estimated $8.60 million. Black Adam declined 52.9 percent from last weekend, which while sizable, was also a very respectable hold given the new direct competition from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Black Adam surpassed the $150 million domestic mark this weekend and has grossed $151.12 million through 24 days of release. With the opening weekend of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever now behind us; Black Adam will have a strong chance of re-stabilizing next weekend.
Internationally, Black Adam surpassed the $200 million international mark this weekend after grossing an estimated $9.7 million from 76 international markets. Respective totals for Black Adam stand at $201.1 million internationally and at $352.2 million globally. Estimated international totals by market for Black Adam through Sunday include $21.1 million in the United Kingdom, $15.1 million in France, $13.9 million in Mexico, $13.5 million in Brazil, $10.7 million in Australia, $8.8 million in Germany, $7.2 million in India, $6.1 million in Spain, $5.7 million in Indonesia, $5.5 million in South Korea, $5.4 million in Malaysia and $4.9 million in Saudi Arabia.
Universal's Ticket to Paradise grossed an estimated $6.10 million this weekend to remain in third place. Ticket to Paradise continued to display strong holding power this weekend, as the romantic comedy declined just 28.6 percent from last weekend. Ticket to Paradise zoomed past the $50 million domestic mark this weekend and has grossed $56.51 million through 24 days. That already gives the film a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 3.42 to 1. Internationally, Ticket to Paradise grossed an estimated $1.4 million this weekend from 79 international territories. That brings the film's international total to $93.5 million and current global haul to $150.0 million.
Also holding up very nicely this weekend was Sony's Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. The family film was down a slim 5.0 percent and up two spots from last weekend to move into fourth place with an estimated $3.20 million. In addition to good word of mouth, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile continues to be helped out by the ongoing lack of competition for family audiences. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile passed the $40 million mark this weekend and has grossed $40.84 million through 38 days. Internationally, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile grossed an estimated $3.5 million this weekend from 49 international markets. Respective totals for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile stand at $31.8 million internationally and at $72.6 million globally.
Horror films occupied fifth and sixth place, as Paramount's Smile took in an estimated $2.33 million and Lionsgate's Prey for the Devil followed closely behind with an estimated $2.01 million. Smile was down a respectable 41.5 percent from last weekend, while Prey for the Devil declined a sizable 48.4 percent. Respective total grosses stand at $102.78 million for Smile through 45 days and at $16.96 million for Prey for the Devil through 17 days.
Disney and Searchlight's The Banshees of Inisherin placed in seventh this weekend with an estimated $1.70 million. That was down only 17.4 percent from last weekend and with the critically acclaimed film playing in a modest 960 locations this weekend, The Banshees of Inisherin had the weekend's third highest per-location average ($1,771) among this weekend's top 9 films. The Banshees of Inisherin has grossed a promising $5.78 million through 24 days of release. In the United Kingdom, The Banshees of Inisherin grossed an estimated $0.7 million this weekend, which brings the film's 24-day total gross in the market to $8.6 million.
Meanwhile, after a respectable second place start last weekend, Crunchyroll's One Piece Film Red dropped a very sharp 84.5 percent to land in eighth this weekend with an estimated $1.45 million. Anime films tend to have very large second weekend declines, but this weekend's decrease for One Piece Film Red was sharper than usual due in part to the film losing its IMAX screens to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. One Piece Film Red has grossed $12.77 million through ten days of domestic release and it should be reminded that the film has already had a break-out performance in Japan (One Piece Film Red is the ninth highest grossing film ever in Japan).
In platform news, Universal's The Fabelmans started its domestic run with an estimated $160,000 platform launch from 4 locations in New York and Los Angeles. That gave the critically acclaimed Steven Spielberg directed film a per-location average of $40,000 for the frame. The Fabelmans stars Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle and Judd Hirsch. The Fabelmans is an awards season contender and is scheduled to expand to moderate release on Wednesday, November 23.