Black Panther: Wakanda Forever struck another blow for the theatrical sector as Marvel Studios/Disney’s superhero sequel delivered the highest November debut of all time in North America and the third highest debut of the pandemic era on an estimated $180m.
Ryan Coogler’s follow up to his 2018 $1.3bn global smash earned an estimated $330m worldwide over the weekend. Screen will report on the international box office on Monday.
This was also the second highest debut of the year to date in North America behind Marvel stablemate Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on $187.4m, as well as the 13th highest opening weekend of all time, the third highest of the pandemic era for a Marvel release, and the hit machine’s eighth highest debut of all time.
The previous highest November bow was held by Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013 on $158m. Additionally, Wakanda Forever earned $14.2m from 405 Imax screens in the highest debut for the format in November.
Disney executives said on Sunday morning (November 13) that the seven Marvel Cinematic Universe films released in 2021 and 2022 have produced approximately $2.3bn at the North American box office so far and claimed an estimated 21% market share of the industry’s combined box office receipts over the two years. Essentially $1 out of every $5 spent at the box office in that period has gone to a Marvel tentpole.
Letitia Wright stars in Wakanda Forever alongside Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta, Michaela Coel, and Martin Freeman. Coogler co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole, as he did on the original. Black Panther debuted in North America on $202m in February 2018 en route to a $700m final tally.
Steven Spielberg’s heavyweight Oscar contender The Fabelmans opened strongly in platform release via Universal Pictures, earning an estimated $160,000 over three days for an impressive $40,000 average from four venues in Los Angeles and New York.
The Amblin film grossed $60,000 on Friday, $58,000 on Saturday and $43,000 on Sunday. The Fabelmans premiered at TIFF where it won the audience award, traditionally a strong indicator of a best pictures Oscar nomination. In the last ten years every TIFF audience award winner has earned a best picture Oscar nomination and three have gone on to win awards season’s top prize: Nomadland in 2021, Green Book in 2019, and 12 Years A Slave in 2014.
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