Los Angeles (AFP) - "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" saw weekend ticket sales drop to an estimated $17.6 million but still extended its rule of the North American box office for a fourth week, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.
The Disney/Marvel sequel had taken in nearly $46 million for the previous Friday-through-Sunday period.Still, its domestic total has now reached an impressive $393.7 million on top of $339 million in international ticket sales.
Universal's new holiday-timed "Violent Night" placed second for the weekend at $13.3 million, "a solid opening for an action comedy," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
David Harbour of "Stranger Things" fame stars as a cranky, sledgehammer-wielding Santa who comes to the rescue when bad guys invade a rich family's home on Christmas Eve.Gross said the film should play well until the December 16 release of much-anticipated "Avatar: The Way of Water."
Disney's computer-animated sci-fi film "Strange World" claimed third place while taking in just $4.9 million.Given its $180 million production budget, "the movie could lose more than $100 million," according to HollywoodReporter.com.
In fourth was Searchlight's horror-comedy "The Menu," at $3.6 million.Ralph Fiennes plays a celebrity chef who serves up some dark surprises.
And in fifth was Sony's "Devotion," an action movie about two US fighter pilots during the Korean War, at $2.8 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
"I Heard the Bells" ($1.8 million)
"Black Adam" ($1.7 million)
"The Fabelmans" ($1.3 million)
"Bones and All" ($1.2 million)
"Ticket to Paradise" ($850,000)
