'Black Panther' sequel rolls again, while 'She Said' flops
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (NYSE:DIS) dominated the weekend box office as expected, but it had a steeper drop-off from its opening than forecast, and some lackluster competition didn't offer many strong alternatives.
The Marvel superhero sequel lost 63% of its business in its sophomore outing to land at $67.3M - meaning a cumulative domestic total of $288M so far. Adding another $258.3M internationally means a two-week worldwide total of $546.3M.
That doesn't quite measure up to the second weekend of predecessor Black Panther (which fell off 44% in its second weekend in 2018, to $111M) - but that would have been a tough bar to clear, as Black Panther is No. 6 on the all-time domestic gross chart.
The strongest of two major contenders was The Menu, from Disney (DIS) label Searchlight, which drew $9M to go along with some critical acclaim, as well as $15.2M worldwide.
The surprise of the weekend was the No. 3 release: The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 (Fathom Events) was a Christian-media hit, drawing $8.2M in more than 2,000 theaters over the weekend.
And the weekend's flop was "#MeToo" drama She Said (NASDAQ:CMCSA), which pulled in $2.25M across more than 2,000 theaters - good enough just to be the sixth-best result of the weekend, behind the fifth week of both Black Adam (WBD) and Ticket to Paradise (CMCSA).
Industrywide, the box office was in danger of falling below the $100M total mark for the weekend, but squeaked into nine figures.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWQ); Cinemark (NYSE:CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).