Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will rule the domestic charts once again as the weekend’s box office total threatens to reach the 2022 level.
Analysts expect $38.5 million in ticket sales across all theatrical releases for the three-day period. Not only is this the worst collective result in some months, but it’s also just a small step above the nearly $35 million gross for the weekend of January 28th. After a disappointing Thanksgiving weekend, showrunners are looking forward to next weekend’s release of “Avatar: Waterway” for a major boost before the end of the year.
Much of those numbers come from “Wakanda Forever,” which has faced virtually no threats as the box office leader since its release in mid-November. Marvel’s sequel earned $2.8 million across 3,725 locations on Friday, on its way to a close to $11 million weekend.
Domestic ticket sales are now $401 million. The film should soon pass the $411 million haul of fellow Marvel movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” to become the second-highest-grossing domestic release of 2022, behind only “Top Gun: Maverick.”
In addition to a round of pending titles, the weekend also sees the release of arthouse films entering limited release, like Darren Aronofsky’s drama “The Whale” and Sam Mendes’ thriller “Empire of Light.”
While it won’t bring in superhero bucks, A24’s The Whale starring Brendan Fraser is making its arthouse debut. Starring as a reclusive 600-pound English teacher trying to reconnect with his daughter (played by Sadie Sink), Frasier found himself at the front of the Best Actor race during this year’s awards season. as such diverseIn his review, Owen Gleiberman wrote, “Frasier is a better actor — smarter, slicker, more unsettling — than he’s ever been.”
More is coming…
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