Box Office: 'The Menu' Debuts Solid While 'Wakanda Forever' Reigns
Weekend box office information is provided by Daniel Garris, courtesy of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Disney's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever took in an estimated $67.30 million this weekend to easily remain in first place at the domestic box office. While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever declined a sharp 62.9 percent from last weekend's debut; that also represented a stronger second weekend hold than those experienced by the three most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder all had second weekend percentage declines in the range of 67.0 percent to 67.7 percent). Given this weekend's percentage holds in general, it also appears that Veterans Day falling last Friday took an even larger than expected toll on holdovers this weekend. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever registered the third largest second weekend performance since the re-opening of domestic theatres; behind only this year's Top: Gun Maverick and last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home (and just ahead of this year's The Batman).
With a strong ten-day domestic gross of $287.99 million, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is quickly approaching the $300 million domestic mark. The ten-day start for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever represents the 20th largest ten-day total of all-time. The film is running just behind the $292.62 million ten-day start of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and with a larger second weekend gross, better word of mouth and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday frame, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever should zoom past the pace of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the coming days. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is also expected to easily remain in first place at the domestic box office over Thanksgiving weekend.
This weekend also saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever surpass the $500 million global mark. The film grossed an estimated $69.8 million internationally this weekend from 50 international markets. That brings respective totals for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to $258.3 million internationally and $546.3 million globally. Estimated international totals by market for Black Panther: Wakdana Forever through Sunday include $27.1 million in the United Kingdom, $22.8 million in Mexico, $21.6 million in France, $14.2 million in Brazil, $14.0 million in South Korea, $12.5 million in Australia, $11.1 million in Germany, $10.1 million in Indonesia, $9.5 million in India, $6.9 million in Italy and $6.2 million in Japan.
This weekend Black Panther: Wakanda Forever grossed an estimated $4.5 million from domestic IMAX screens and an estimated $3.6 million from international IMAX screens. Through Sunday, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has grossed $21.4 million from domestic IMAX screens and $13.6 million from international IMAX screens, for a current global IMAX total of $35.0 million.
Disney and Searchlight's The Menu debuted in second place with an estimated $9.00 million. The Mark Mylod directed horror dark comedy starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult opened in line with consensus expectations. The Menu opened just below the $10.54 million start of Disney and 20th Century's Barbarian back in September. Like Barbarian, The Menu will hope to display stronger than usual holding power for a horror film going forward. The Menu has gone over very well with critics and while the film's B CinemaScore rating isn't as impressive, it still suggests that The Menu is going over fairly well with initial audiences. The Menu could also get a bit of a boost next weekend from the Thanksgiving holiday frame. The audience breakdown for The Menu skewed 53 percent male, 47 percent female, a sizable 74 percent over 25 and 26 percent under 25.
The Menu also started its international run this weekend with an estimated $6.2 million from 36 international markets. That places the film's global launch at $15.2 million. International debuts for The Menu this weekend included $1.1 million in the United Kingdom, $0.7 million in Italy, $0.7 million in Germany, $0.4 million in Saudi Arabia, $0.4 million in Mexico and $0.3 million in Japan. In the coming week, The Menu will open in additional international markets, including Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
Fathom Events and Angel Studios' The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 was off to an impressive third place start this weekend with an estimated $8.22 million. The faith-based event screening consists of the first two episodes of The Chosen streaming television series. The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 was playing in 2,027 locations this weekend, which gave the event screening a healthy per-location average of $4,055 for the frame. The per-location performance is even stronger than it looks, given that The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 received less than one full screen of daily showtimes at some of its locations this weekend. The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 came close to matching the $9.15 million five-day start of last year's Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers (which opened on a Wednesday and grossed $4.25 million over its first three-day weekend frame). Given the strength of this weekend's performance; the theatrical run for The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2, which was initially scheduled to last only five days, has now been extended through December 1.
Warner Bros. and New Line's Black Adam was down two spots from last weekend to place in fourth with an estimated $4.48 million. Black Adam declined 44.4 percent this weekend, which on one hand was underwhelming with the opening weekend of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever now behind it, but on the other hand was still respectable given the degree of this weekend's percentage declines among holdovers in general. The 31-day domestic total for Black Adam stands at $156.96 million. Internationally, Black Adam grossed an estimated $5.1 million this weekend from 76 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $209.2 million and current global haul to $366.2 million. Black Adam will open in Japan on December 2.
Universal's Ticket to Paradise was down two spots and 45.8 percent from last weekend to round out this weekend's top five with an estimated $3.20 million. While Ticket to Paradise lost some momentum this weekend, in the bigger picture the film passed the $60 million domestic mark this weekend and has grossed a solid $61.56 million through 31 days. That gives Ticket to Paradise a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 3.73 to 1. Internationally, Ticket to Paradise grossed an estimated $1.1 million this weekend from 79 international markets. Respective totals for Ticket to Paradise stand at $95.5 million internationally and at $157.1 million globally.
Meanwhile, fellow Universal release She Said debuted in sixth place with a modest $2.25 million. The Maria Schrader directed drama about The New York Times investigation of Harvey Weinstein's history of sexual abuse, stars Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan and Patricia Clarkson. In general, more serious adult dramas have struggled at the box office since re-opening and that trend clearly continued with She Said this weekend. On a positive note, She Said has gone over very well with critics and the film also looks to be going over very well with audiences who have seen it, as She Said received a strong A rating on CinemaScore. Internationally, She Said grossed an estimated $0.57 million this weekend from 26 mostly smaller international markets, with Australia alone being responsible for $0.27 million this weekend. This coming Wednesday (November 23) She Said will open in France, before opening in South Korea the following week on November 30.
Sony's Lyle, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile declined three spots and a respectable 40.6 percent to land in seventh with an estimated $1.90 million. The 45-day domestic total for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile stands at $43.17 million. Internationally, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile grossed an estimated $2.5 million this weekend from 48 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $35.1 million and current global haul to $78.2 million.
On the platform front, United Artists Releasing and MGM's Bones and All started out with an estimated $119,916 from 5 locations in New York and Los Angeles for a per-location average of $23,983, while Universal's The Fabelmans grossed an estimated $94,000 in its second weekend from 4 locations in New York Los Angeles for a similar per-location average of $23,500. The ten-day platform total for The Fabelmans stands at $313,922. On Wednesday, the Luca Guadagnino directed Bones and All will expand to an estimated 2,500 locations and the Steven Spielberg directed The Fabelmans will expand to an estimated 600 locations.