'Black Panther' Remains Box Office King, Topping $1 Billion Worldwide

On top of eclipsing $1 billion worldwide, Disney and Marvel's Black Panther has now achieved what no other film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has accomplished as it remained #1 at the weekend box office for its fourth straight weekend in a row since release. The superhero repeat means Disney's A Wrinkle in Time opened in second place followed by Aviron's The Strangers: Prey at Night while both Amazon Studios's Gringo and Entertainment Studios's The Hurricane Heist struggled mightily.

With an estimated $41.1 million, Black Panther topped the weekend box office for the fourth straight week in a row following it release. The last time a film managed that was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film's domestic cume now stands at a massive $562 million making it the second highest grossing superhero release of all-time and the seventh largest overall domestic release of all-time. In addition to Black Panther's four weekend streak at #1, the film's performance this weekend is the third largest fourth weekend of all-time just behind Force Awakens ($42.3m).

Internationally, Black Panther debuted in its final major market this weekend, China, where it opened with an estimated $66.5 million. Overall, the film's international weekend added an estimated $100 million to its bottom line, pushing the overseas total to $516.6 million for a global tally that now totals $1.078 billion. Black Panther is the fifth film in the MCU to reach this mark and is just shy of cracking the top 20 all-time.

Disney's A Wrinkle in Time landed in second with an estimated $33.3 million over its opening weekend. The result is just below the $35 million the studio was expecting and well below Mojo's aggressive forecast. Reasoning for the film's lackluster debut will most likely focus on Black Panther's continued dominance within the marketplace as well as the mixed reviews the film received heading into the weekend. Time will tell how well Wrinkle will be able to hold on over the coming weekends as the "B" CinemaScore suggests it could go either way. As of now the pre-weekend comparisons to Tomorrowland, which also opened with $33 million in 2015, appear to be holding up. That film went on to gross $93.4 million domestically.

Internationally, A Wrinkle in Time debuted with $6.3 million in approximately 14% of the international marketplace. Leading the way was Russia with $4.1 million followed by Spain with $1 million. The film will debut in France this coming Wednesday followed by a release in the UK on March 23 with openings in Italy, Australia, Brazil and Mexico at the end of the month.

Aviron's The Strangers: Prey at Night debuted in third place with an estimated $10.2 million, on par with expectations. Opening weekend demographics saw the film play to an audience that was 51% female and opening weekend auds scored the film with a "C" CinemaScore.

Fox's Red Sparrow landed in fourth position, dropping a top ten worst 51.6% with an estimated $8.15 million. The film's domestic cume now stands at $31.1 million after ten days in release. The film also added $15.7 million internationally this weekend raising its worldwide cume to $82.9 million. Rounding out the top five is WB's release of New Line's Game Night, dropping just 24% for an estimated $7.9 million three-day. The R-rated comedy's domestic cume is now up to $45 million as it enters its third week in release. Internationally the film added another $5.4 million this weekend bringing its overseas cume to $24.7 million for a global cume just shy of $70 million.

Outside the top five we find The Hurricane Heist, which opened this weekend in 2,402 theaters with a mere $3.1 million. The film played to an audience that was 55% male and of the overall audience 73% were over the age of 25. The film received a "B-" CinemaScore.

The Hurricane Heist wasn't the only new wide release to struggle as STX's release of Amazon Studios's Gringo missed out on a place in the top ten with an estimated $2.6 million from 2,404 locations. The two films delivered per theater averages among the worst all-time for films opening in more than 2,000 theaters with Gringo placing 27th, averaging just $1,094 per theater.

Gringo also debuted in eight international territories this weekend with an estimated $850k.

Elsewhere, Sony's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle added another $2.75 million to its bottom line for a domestic cume that now totals $397.2 million. The film continues to inch closer and closer to the $400 million mark and is now just $6.5 million away from becoming Sony's highest grossing domestic release of all-time.

 

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	1	Black Panther	BV	$40,817,579	-38.4%	3,942	-142	$10,355	$561,697,180	-	4
2	N	A Wrinkle in Time	BV	$33,123,609	-	3,980	-	$8,323	$33,123,609	-	1
3	N	Strangers: Prey at Night	Aviron	$10,402,271	-	2,464	-	$4,222	$10,402,271	-	1
4	2	Red Sparrow	Fox	$8,502,263	-49.6%	3,064	+8	$2,775	$31,471,006	$69	2
5	4	Game Night	WB (NL)	$7,863,391	-24.5%	3,061	-441	$2,569	$45,004,023	$37	3
6	5	Peter Rabbit	Sony	$6,775,718	-32.3%	3,112	-495	$2,177	$93,433,524	$50	5
7	3	Death Wish (2018)	MGM	$6,581,130	-49.4%	2,882	+35	$2,284	$23,856,431	$30	2
8	6	Annihilation	Par.	$3,302,319	-41.1%	1,709	-403	$1,932	$26,246,833	$40	3
9	N	The Hurricane Heist	ENTMP	$3,024,399	-	2,402	-	$1,259	$3,024,399	$35	1
10	7	Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle	Sony	$2,742,244	-38.2%	2,157	-156	$1,271	$397,250,264	$90	12