Black Panther Battles Santa Claus

Marvel’s epic Black Panther: Wakanda Forever maintained its position at the top of the domestic box office this weekend, clawing its way to $17.59 million in its fourth frame. All told, the superhero flick has amassed an incredible $393.7 million domestically and $733 million worldwide. While the sequel is miles away from the original Black Panther’s $1.382 billion worldwide gross, it’s running 6 percent ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, according to Deadline. Wakanda Forever has one more week to itself before James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water sweeps into theaters on Dec. 15.

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In a surprising turn, Universal/87 North’s Violent Night earned an impressive $13.3 million in its first weekend, which is just below the $16.2 million sum earned by the studio’s Krampus back in 2015. Considering its R-rating, this is definitely a win for Universal, and it’ll be interesting to see how high this Santa Claus can fly in the remaining weeks. Globally, the pic collected $20.3 million.

Overall, it was a relatively quiet weekend, and the offerings in the weeks ahead (aside from Avatar) likewise look minuscule compared to previous years.

Domestic Top 10 Box Office Results:

1) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 3.855 (-435) theaters, Fri $4.4M (-76%)/3-day $15M -$16M (-66%)/Total: $392M/Wk 4

2.) Violent Night (Uni) Fri $4.86M, 3 day $11.87M/Wk 1

3.) Strange World (Dis) 4,174 theaters, Fri $1.08M (-78%)/3-day $4.4M (-64%)Total: $25M/Wk 2

4.) The Menu (Sea), 2,810 (-418) theaters Fri $1.04M (-49%), 3-day $3.6M (-33%)/Total $24.7M/Wk 3

5.) Devotion (Sony) 3,405 theaters, Fri $835K (-66%), 3-day $2.8M (-53%) Total $13.8M/Wk 2

6.) Black Adam (NL) 2,231 (-433) theaters, Fri $375K (-70%), 3-day $1.4M (-57%)/Total $164.9M/Wk 7

7.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 955 theaters, Fri $430K, 3 day $1.35M/Wk 1

8.) Bones and All (UAR) 2,727 theaters, Fri $385K (-54%), 3-day $1.27M (-44%), Total $6.1M/Wk 3

9.) The Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 638 theaters Fri $340K (-61%), 3-day $1.07M (-53%) Total $5.3M/Wk 4

10.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 1,715 (-523) theaters, Fri $240K (-66%), 3 day $790K (-58%) Total $66.4M/Wk 7