Box office: ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ tumbles but remains #1 over ‘The Menu’ and ‘The Chosen’
Although there were only two new movies in wide release this weekend, Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” held onto the top spot, quite easily in fact, with an estimated $67.3 million, which is a hefty 63% drop from its opening weekend. It has grossed nearly $288 million so far in North America, and it has crossed $500 million globally, as it added another $69.8 million overseas this weekend for a global total of $546.3 million.
Searchlight Studios opened the dark restaurant comedy, “The Menu,” in 3,211 theaters on Friday. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, John Leguizamo, and a large ensemble cast, the movie brought in an estimated $9 million over the weekend, following its million in Thursday previews. This is the best opening for a Searchlight Studios movie so far, although, to be fair, the rebranded Fox Searchlight has only been active for two years.
You may have heard of Dallas Jenkins’ streaming historical drama, “The Chosen,” based on the life of Jesus of Nazareth, or maybe (like me) you haven’t. The first two episodes of its third season were released exclusively in 2,027 theaters through Fathom Events on Friday, and clearly, the series has a big enough fanbase that drove people into theaters to the tune of $8.2 million, and its theatrical run has been extended until December 1.
Dwayne Johnson’s “Black Adam” took a 44% drop to fourth place with $4.5 million and $157 million grossed domestically. It’s still playing in 3,372 theaters, but expect a bigger drop next weekend with so many other options entering theaters.
The George Clooney and Julia Roberts rom-com, “Ticket to Paradise,” took fifth place with $3.2 million, a drop of 46%, bringing its total to $61.6 million, showing that the two A-listers still can bring people into theaters.
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Sadly, Universal’s #MeToo drama “She Said,” starring Carey Mulligan and Zoey Kazan, failed to find much of an audience, opening in sixth place with $2.2 million in 2,022 theaters, which is only $1,113 per venue. We’ll have to see if that disappointing opening affects the movie’s Oscar chances, but it’s par for the course of a weaker box office for prestige films.
As another example, Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” was one of the films this weekend that lost theaters and took a deep plunge, although it managed to stay in the top ten with $703,000. It has grossed only $7.2 million, so far, but there is an option to re-expand it if it starts winning awards in the next month.
U.A. Releasing gave Luca Guadagnino’s road drama, “Bones and All,” starring Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, and Mark Rylance, a platform release into five New York and L.A. theaters ahead of its wide expansion on Wednesday. It took in $119,916 or $23,983 per theater, which is less than Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” did last weekend.
Filmmaker Elegance Bratton’s semi-autobiograpical drama, “The Inspection,” also opened in five theaters in New York and L.A., but that ended up with almost half of “Bones,” an estimated $66,000. We’ll have to see whether A24 decides to expand the movie nationwide or keeps it in the arthouses until it starts seeing awards momentum.
It’s probably little surprise that “The Chosen” ended up being the big spoiler in this weekend’s Gold Derby box office prediction game, since only 11 players predicted “None of These” correctly for third place. Only 28 players had “Wakanda Forever” making between $50 and 75 million this weekend, and less than half the players had “The Menu” taking second place. Things got progressively worse from there, so I’ll be genuinely shocked if anyone goes 6 for 6 this week.
Congrats to the three players who went 6 for 6 in the Nov. 11 game – “paulhardister,” “bennylovesfilms” and “1007382637” – with “paul” winning the game two weeks in a row.
Thursday is Thanksgiving, traditionally a very busy time at the box office, and there is a slew of new movies hitting theaters on Wednesday, including Disney’s “Strange World,” Sony’s fighter jet pilot drama “Devotion,” and Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” “The Fabelmans” and “Bones and All” will also expand into more theaters on Wednesday. With that in mind, look for Gold Derby’s usual weekend box office preview on Tuesday morning this week.
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