Wakanda Forever Ties A Black Panther Record In An Otherwise Awful Weekend At The Box Office

It feels like in the pandemic era, Hollywood gives big blockbusters arguably too much breathing room to avoid another, smaller movie being walked all over. Just look at what happened with "The Batman" earlier this year, for example. That is currently happening right now, as virtually everyone is steering clear of James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water," which washes up in theaters 13 years after the original's record-breaking run at the box office this weekend. But that comes at a cost, and that cost this past weekend was one of the worst weekends at the box office of the entire year. And folks, it was very bad. The only winner in the bunch was "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which took the top spot for the fifth week in a row.

Director Ryan Coogler's "Wakanda Forever" earned $11.1 million in its fifth weekend, easily (and sadly) taking the top spot, per Box Office Mojo. That makes it the first movie since the original "Black Panther" to top the charts for five straight weeks, which is an astonishingly impressive stat that Coogler gets to put on his resume for the rest of his career. Though, the original "Black Panther" earned $26.6 million on its fifth weekend, representing a much larger haul. In any event, Marvel's latest now sits pretty at $767.8 million worldwide and will soon pass "The Batman" ($770 million) to become the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year. But "The Way of Water" will probably knock it down a spot sooner rather than later.

Other than the Marvel Cinematic Universe getting yet another win, it was pretty sour all the way around for almost everything else in the top ten. One of the only other bright spots was Universal's Christmas horror/action flick "Violent Night" (read our review here), which came in at number two with $8.69 million in its second weekend. The film, which stars David Harbour as a murder-y Santa, has now earned $41.7 million globally against a very reasonable $20 million budget. It will be in profit in no time. But, more to the point, Universal may have a movie that has entered the annual holiday lexicon, which is the gift that keeps on giving.

Meanwhile, Searchlight is finding similar success with its thriller "The Menu," which earned another $2.7 million, good enough for fourth place. It now sits at $57.7 million worldwide and, with a $30 million budget, that's not bad by any means. Especially since this one figures to do well on VOD/streaming. Aside from that? It was abysmal all the way through the rest of the top ten. Disney's "Strange World" is officially one of the studio's biggest flops ever, "Devotion" is now one of the biggest flops of the year, and even Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans" can't find an audience.

Heck, even Sam Mendes, who recently directed the massive hit "1917," has a dud with "Empire of Light," which earned just $160,000 in 110 theaters this weekend. By comparison, the much-anticipated "The Whale" earned $360,000 in just six theaters for a $60,000 per-screen average, the best of 2022. Here's hoping things look better next week but, more to the point, here's hoping 2023 brings greener pastures for adult-oriented original movies.

Top ten movies at the box office December 9 – 11, 2022

1. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" – $11.1 million

2. "Violent Night" – $8.69 million

3. "Strange World" – $3.6 million

4. "The Menu" – $2.7 million

5. "Devotion" – $1.99 million

6. "Black Adam" – $1.34 million

7. "The Fabelmans" – $1.18 million

8. "Met Opera: The Hours" – $791,000

9. "I Heard the Bells" – $750,000

10. "Spoiler Alert" – $700,000