'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' reigns supreme at box office

Film dominated the North American box office for a second straight weekend, taking in an estimated $67.3 million

LOS ANGELES:

Disney and Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dominated the North American box office for a second straight weekend, taking in an estimated $67.3 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

That takes for the sequel to the hugely popular Black Panther - with the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda again fighting for its survival - was a bit below industry expectations despite a current global total of $546 million, trade publications said.

But it was still more than seven times its closest competitor in North American theaters, Searchlight's new horror-comedy film The Menu, which took in $9 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

The Menu stars Ralph Fiennes as a celebrity chef who prepares an elaborate - and increasingly creepy - meal for a group of wealthy, entitled people (including Anya Taylor-Joy of The Queen's Gambit) who have no idea what, or who is about to be served.

In third place was a surprise success, The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2, a crowd-funded Christian movie that pulled in $8.2 million. "By Christian drama film standards, it's a very good opening," said David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

In its fifth week out, Warner Bros' superhero film Black Adam placed fourth, at $4.5 million. Dwayne Johnson stars in the Shazam! spinoff. In fifth place was the Universal rom-com Ticket to Paradise, at $3.2 million. Julia Roberts and George Clooney star.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

She Said ($2.3 million)
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile ($1.9 million)
Smile ($1.2 million)
Drishyam 2 ($1.1 million)
Prey for the Devil ($935,000)

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