Wakanda Forever easily beats Jesus and The Menu at the Weekend Box Office
The Black Panther sequel dips slightly, but not any worse than this year's other Marvel movies
Aux News Wakanda
If you’re waiting for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to screw up like the Be Sharps and say it’s bigger than Jesus, here’s your chance: In its second weekend on the box office charts, Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever has easily beaten the theatrical debut of the first two episodes of the new season of The Chosen (a streaming show available in various places about the life of Jesus). It also beat the debut of foodie thriller The Menu, which came out in secon place with $9 million, ahead of The Chosen in third with $8.2 million.
But back to Wakanda Forever, it fell over 60 percent from last week, down to $67 million, which is enough to put it a hair short of $300 million (fewer than 20,000 hairs short, at least). Now, while dropping 60 percent may seem dramatic, it’s worth noting that this year’s previous two Marvel movies—Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness and Thor: Love And Thunder—both dropped 67 percent in their second weeks. That might mean that Wakanda Forever will hold on better than those two (it opened stronger than Thor and almost as strong as Doctor Strange), so there’s no reason to count it out any time soon.
Filling out the rest of the top 10 are Black Adam ($4 million in week 5), Ticket To Paradise ($3 million, also in its fifth week), the debut of She Said (only $2.2 million with a somewhat limited release), Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile ($1.9 million in its seventh week), Smile ($1.1 million in its eighth week), Prey For The Devil with $935,000, and finally The Banshees Of Inisherin with $703,000.
Other noteworthy things are the limited release of Bones And All, which is only in five theaters but got a higher per-screen average than Wakanda Forever this week (though it only made $120,000). Also, ironically, a documentary called Only In Theaters debuted in one single theater this weekend, so it was literally only in theater (singular). Anyway, here’s everybody’s favorite part of this weekly rambling: The full top 10 list, courtesy of Box Office Mojo! Woo! Yippee!
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- The Menu
- The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2
- Black Adam
- Ticket To Paradise
- She Said
- Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
- Smile
- Prey For The Devil
- The Banshees Of Inisherin
34 Comments
That’s a significant second week drop compared to the original movie. Not being able to beat a Doctor Strange sequel was surprising.
The original movie was also released a full year before the pandemic and was embroiled directly with all the Avengers Inifinity Saga hype. As a pahse 4/5 release, I can’t imagine Disney being anything less than happy with this haul.
The original Black Panther was also something of a cultural phenomenon that lent itself to repeat viewing (I think I saw it twice within two weeks, and I almost never see movies in theaters multiple times). By contrast, Wakanda Forever is obviously pretty heavy for a superhero film; I think a lot of people wanted to see it, but probably don’t want to repeat the emotional experience so soon.
Not to mention most people are dealing with a.) record high inflation b.) alot of unusually cold weather (here in Michigan there’s goddamn snow on the ground and the high was about 25 F all weekend) and c.) various respiratory viruses going around, big disincentives to go sit in a big, mildly expensive, cool theatre with recycled air.
I agree, saw Black Panther in theaters twice, but with BPWF I’ll wait until it’s on Disney+ for 2nd viewing. Really enjoyed watching The Chosen on the big screen (saw it multiple times in theaters). Can’t wait for the rest of season 3 to release!
This is funny to read considering the Iger news later that night.
98% chance your quibbling stems from your racism
Oh shit, you nailed it.
Calling multiverse of madness “a doctor strange sequel” is silly. That was the movie they went all out selling with a bazillion cameos from as yet unseen new characters.
as much a ‘spider-man no way home’ sequel as anything.
Yep. If not for the Illuminati, I’d have turned it off 20 mins in.
Sure it had a million cameos (I guess? Didn’t see..) but the original DS was a giant bag of ‘meh’, whereas BP was pretty astonishing and flat-out good. Would’ve thought the latter would have a much larger tail.
Yeah that’s the point. People saw Dr Strange for Wanda and the numerous cameos that they used heavily in marketing the movie. So I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
I watched The Menu and She Said this weekend and I really enjoyed both and would recommend them. I’m planning to see Black Panther but I will probably wait another week so I can go to a showing that isn’t full of people.
I’ve worked in the service industry. I’ve never worked for anyone who could convince me to [redacted]. I don’t care how good they were.
“The Menu” was delightfully weird, but weird with a purpose.
“[F]oodie thriller The Menu, which came out in secon place”.
For those wondering, “secon” is not a typo, but an attempt to replicate in print an affected French chef’s accent, as in, “Zut alors, are you rrrready for your secon course?”
HON HON HON !
Would you lahk a CWA-SOHHHHN?
JelabadaHOO, kayjabbajabbaHOO, taddabaddaHOO, baddabaddapaHOO POO LA LA!
“Eet eez vay-ferr theen!”
secon place
Almost as good as second place.
Actually, my favorite part of this week’s rambling was the statement just before:Also, ironically, a documentary called Only In Theaters debuted in one single theater this weekend, so it was literally only in theater (singular).It’s a documentary about the LA-based theater chain Laemmle Theaters, a family-run business started in 1938 by Max and Kurt Laemmle, who, yes, were cousins of Universal Pictures head honcho Carl Laemmle. My interest is actually sorta piqued.
I think the irony implied was *Only in Theaters*, with theaters being plural, only showing in a single, non-plural theater. Word play, if you will.
Never heard of 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, or 10, so while I strongly disliked the first Black Panther and had no intention to pay to see the new one, its not surprising its on top. Good or bad its going to be the most popular for now, its EASILY the one with the most marketing money behind it.
Take that, Jesus!
secon place —> second placeBut back to Wakanda Forever, it fell over 60 percent from last week —> a period, em dash, semicolon; ANYTHING but this gross 3rd-grade fan-fiction comma spliceAlso, I appreciate a Simpsons reference as much as anyone, but I can’t help but strongly suspect Barsanti doesn’t actually know that John Lennon originally said the “bigger than Jesus” thing
I think it’s funny how we talk about the per-screen average of art movies outperforming Marvel flicks, as it’s clearly a stacked deck – those five movie theaters are always in LA or NY, full of people who actually care about Oscar season and “the big screen experience” and shit. It’s like a harmless version of gerrymandering.
Not really. Plenty of these small movies can’t open with string per-theater averages. They’re important to know if and when the movies go wide.
there’s also barely such a thing as an ‘art movie’ anymore. i also like the idea that it’s a ‘stacked deck’…AGAINST mcu movies. like, i’m sorry, that’s the stacked deck in this equation.
John Lennon got shot for saying Wakanda Forever is more popular than Jesus.
Jesus and The MenuIs it ever anything other than fishes and loaves?
Jesus and The MenuMediterranean pescatarian?
So excited that The Chosen Season 3 made it to #3 in the box office! Loved sharing the theatrical experience with other fans especially as we have been waiting for season 3 to come out since July 2021😊 Season 1 has also just been added to Netflix!