Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading

'Wakanda' still reigns on weak Thanksgiving weekend in N.America

This file photo shows actors Winston Duke and Letitia Wright arriving for the October 26, 2022 world premiere of Marvel's 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' in Hollywood. ©AFP

Los Angeles (AFP) - "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" again ruled the North American box office this weekend, while two new high-budget releases had "weak" openings, analysts said. 

Disney and Marvel's "Wakanda" took in an estimated $45.9 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, or $64 million for the full Thanksgiving weekend starting Wednesday, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

But the dropoff was sharp after that popular superhero tale, despite the holiday weekend.Overall, the weekend's top dozen films had 12 percent less in ticket sales than the top 12 of a year earlier.

In second place was Disney's computer-animated sci-fi movie "Strange World," at $11.9 million for three days and $18.6 million for five days.Variety.com called that a "catastrophic" result for a film with a $180 million budget. 

And in third was another new release, Sony's "Devotion," which took in $6 million for three days ($9 million for five).David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research called that "a weak opening for a war action movie." The story about the friendship of two US fighter pilots during the Korean War had a $90 million budget.

Fourth place went to Searchlight's horror-comedy "The Menu," at $5.2 million ($7.3 million).Ralph Fiennes plays a celebrity chef with some dark surprises on the menu.

And in fifth was superhero film "Black Adam" from Warner Bros., which took in $3.4 million ($4.7 million).Dwayne Johnson stars.

Netflix has not released numbers for another much-anticipated film, "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," but Gross said the sequel to 2019's "Knives Out" took in an estimated $9 million in limited release over just three days -- "a terrific result."

Rounding out the top 10 were: 

"The Fabelmans" ($2.22 million for three days; $3 million for five)

"Bones and All" ($2.20 million; $3.6 million)

"Ticket to Paradise" ($1.9 million; $2.6 million)

"The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1&2" ($1.5 million; $2.1 million)

"She Said" ($1.1 million; $1.5 million)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.