All Hail the King! Continuing its historic run, the new face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe easily took first place this weekend while three newcomers opened to so-so results.
Generating the second biggest second weekend in history, Black Panther took in an estimated $108M, bringing its domestic total to a whopping $400M. Only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($149M) had a better second weekend. After only 10 days, the new King of Wakanda and his powerful team have outgrossed almost all other Marvel films, and by the end of the day tomorrow will be third behind only the two superteam Avengers films. By the end of next weekend only the original Avengers film will be ahead of it and even that will likely not withstand the power of the Panther. Compared to The Avengers after the first 10 days, Black Panther is running 7% ahead and showing no signs of slowing down. At this pace Black Panther could easily hit $650M. Internationally, the film picked up an estimated $83.8M this weekend, bringing its total overseas to $304M and making for a worldwide total of $704M with the lucrative Chinese market still to open in a couple of weeks.
Yes, there were other films still in the marketplace, even if Black Panther outgrossed all of them combined. Again. Debuting in second place was the R-rated Warner comedy Game Night which made an estimated $16.6M from 3,488 theaters for a per screen average of $4,759. A solid B+ from CinemaScore and largely good reviews is a good sign the movie won’t drop precipitously over the upcoming weeks. Peter Rabbit held on nicely in its third weekend, slipping 28.3% to an estimated $12.5M, bringing its total up to $71.3M.
Opening in fourth was the female-led sci-fi actioner Annihilation which took in an estimated $11M from 2,012 theaters for a per screen average of $5,467. Audiences either did not like, or were confused by, the film as it garnered a very poor C grade on CinemaScore, while critics were very bullish on the latest from writer/director Alex Garland. The final chapter in the steamy romance trilogy, Fifty Shades Freed continued its rapid decline falling 60% in its third weekend to an estimated $6.9M, bringing its total to $89.5M. The first two films in the series were sitting at $147M and $103M respectively at the same point in their runs.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle continued its tremendous run falling only 28.8% from last weekend, picking up another $5.65M, according to estimates, bringing its total up to an amazing $387.3M. Clint Eastwood’s latest The 15:17 to Paris has not fared particularly well as it fell another 52.5% in its third weekend to an estimated $3.6M, bringing its total up to $32.2M.
The not-so-little film that could, The Greatest Showman once again had a great hold, falling 32.5% in its 10th weekend to an estimated $3.4M, bringing its total up to $160.7M, remarkable considering it opened to only $8.8M. The last debut in the top 10, Every Day, opened at number nine to an estimated $3.1M from 1,667 theaters for a per screen average of only $1,862. Audiences liked what they saw, giving the film a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore, but critics were not nearly as kind. Rounding out the top 10 was the animated Early Man which fell 46.7% in its second weekend to an estimated $1.7M, bringing its total up to only $6.8M. Look for a finale in the $10M range.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $172.5M over the weekend which was up 66% from last year when Get Out debuted to $33.4M; and up 89% from 2016 when Deadpool held on to the top spot with $56.5M.
Follow Box Office Guru on Twitter.
