- Black Panther debuted at top of box office with $84 million on Friday.
- That’s the second-largest opening day of 2022 and the tenth-largest ever.
- The movie is expected to earn at least $175 million in its opening weekend.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a hotly anticipated superhero sequel from Disney, debuted at the top of the box office on Friday with $84 million (including $28 million from Thursday previews).
That is the second-largest opening day of 2022 and the tenth-largest opening day ever, trailing only Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($90 million), a fellow Marvel sequel.
The movie is expected to earn at least $175 million in its opening weekend, falling short of the first movie’s $202 million three-day debut from 2018.
Wakanda Forever’s three-day debut, however, is estimated to be at the higher end of estimates at $185 million.
With a staggering $700 million domestic total at the end of its run, the first Black Panther finished sixth in all-time box office receipts.
In contrast to a stated $200 million budget, it ended up earning $1.3 billion globally. Although Wakanda Forever’s projected three-day opening is in the same ballpark as Doctor Strange 2, which earned $187 million in its first weekend back in May, Captain America: Civil War ($179 million), and Iron Man 3 ($174 million), according to the MCU’s internal rankings, Spider-Man: No Way Home made $260 million in its opening weekend last year.
Jurassic World Dominion ($145 million), Thor: Love and Thunder ($144 million), The Batman ($134 million), and Top Gun: Maverick ($126 million) are some of the other top weekend debuts of 2022.
Wakanda Forever scored a high A CinemaScore from viewers on opening day (the first Black Panther received an A-).
The untimely death of star Chadwick Boseman had a significant impact on the film’s production, which examines themes of grief and family in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.
The movie is very much intended as a memorial to both Boseman and T’Challa, who both passed away from cancer in 2020 after silently fighting the disease for four years.
After dominating the box office for three consecutive weeks, DC’s Black Adam fell to second place with $2.7 million on Friday.
It is anticipated that the movie, which stars Dwayne Johnson in a part he has desired for more than ten years, would earn $10 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its overall domestic gross to $152 million.
Black Adam still has a long way to go before being considered an unqualified success despite having a whopping $195 million production budget.
The romance movie Ticket to Paradise, starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, came in third place on its fourth Friday with $2.1 million.
The movie is anticipated to earn $6.3 million during the weekend, bringing its overall domestic gross to over $56 million. Ticket to Paradise has generated close to $150 million worldwide because it was released abroad a few weeks before it made its U.S. debut.
Two movies that catered to completely different audiences, at the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
The sixth Friday of Sony’s family-friendly musical Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile brought in $1.12 million, bringing the weekend total to an expected $3 million.
The horror hit Smile from Paramount earned an additional $800,000 on its seventh Friday, bringing its overall domestic gross to over $102 million with an anticipated $2.2 million weekend finish.
The semi-autobiographical play The Fabelmans, directed by Steven Spielberg, opened in four cinemas and earned $60,000.
Before Disney’s Avatar: The Way of the Water debuts next month, Wakanda Forever is predicted to rule the box office.
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