'Wakanda' extends its box-office reign in North American theaters

WASHINGTON: Disney and Marvel's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" dominated the North American box office for a second straight weekend, taking in an estimated $67.3 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

That take for the sequel to the hugely popular "Black Panther" -- with the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda again fighting for its survival -- was a bit below industry expectations despite a current global total of $546 million, trade publications said.

But it was still more than seven times its closest competitor in North American theaters, Searchlight's new horror-comedy film "The Menu," which took in $9 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

"The Menu" stars Ralph Fiennes as a celebrity chef who prepares an elaborate -- and increasingly creepy -- meal for a group of wealthy, entitled people (including Anya Taylor-Joy of "The Queen's Gambit") who have no idea what, or who, is about to be served.

'Black Adam' extends its stay atop North America box office

In third place was a surprise success, "The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2," a crowd-funded Christian movie that pulled in $8.2 million. "By Christian drama film standards, it's a very good opening," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Another new release, "Drishyam 2," a Hindi-language crime thriller from Yash Raj Films, was also a bit of a surprise. Like "The Chosen," it had ticket sales of $8.2 million.

And in fifth place, down three spots from last weekend, was "Black Adam" from Warner Bros., at $4.5 million. Dwayne Johnson stars in the "Shazam!" spinoff.

That left a more publicized new film, Universal's "She Said" -- the story of how New York Times reporters uncovered producer Harvey Weinstein's history of sexual abuse -- trailing in seventh place, despite what Gross said were "excellent" reviews.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Ticket to Paradise" ($3.2 million) "She Said" ($2.3 million) "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" ($1.9 million) "Smile" ($1.2 million) "Prey for the Devil" ($935,000)