As what many expected, Disney and Marvel remained firmly at #1 with their smash hit Black Panther. The critically-adored superhero flick was off a light 41% to $65.7 million, with the 17-day gross propelling to an unbelievable $501.1 million. In just three weeks, Panther already ranks as the 10th-highest grossing movie of all-time stateside, ranking just behind last year's Beauty and the Beast. As far as third weekends are concerned, its' the third-largest ever behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avatar. As of now, Panther is pacing ahead of The Avengers ($457.7 million) and even is narrowly ahead of Jurassic World ($500.4 million) through the same point. Next weekend, A Wrinkle in Time opens which will take a good slice of Panther's audience. In the end, however, the film looks likely to earn possibly $650 million or more by the time it finishes its run. That would be enough to rank in the Top 5 highest-grossing movies of all-time. I'm not sure Marvel and Disney were expecting this big of a result. And, what could this mean for the business of Avengers: Infinity War (who's release date was moved up a week to April 27 just a few days ago).Overseas, Black Panther continues to wow, with the overseas gross reaching almost $400 million, for a $900 million worldwide gross in 17 days. Look for the Marvel blockbuster to pass $1 billion next weekend, with a final gross possibly as high as $1.3 billion. That would match last year's Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence got a little sidetracked this weekend as her latest flick opened behind expectations. Red Sparrow pulled in $17 million in second place ($5,563 per-venue average). Most analysts were thinking of around $20 million or slightly higher. For Lawrence, this is way better than last year's mother and in line with 2015's Joy. Reviews were down the middle (51% on Rotten Tomatoes) while the CinemaScore was a "B". With a pretty expensive $69 million price tag, Sparrow is going to need strong legs in order to even reach that amount stateside. But with such mixed reception, that might not be possible at this point. It got off to a decent start overseas, with a worldwide launch of $43 million.
Finally, Bruce Willis' action flick Death Wish also came in behind analysts' tracking with $13 million in third place ($4,575 per-venue average). Against a smaller $30 million budget, the remake of the 1974 flick certainly is in better shape financially. There was considerable buzz going around, and some analysts were thinking it might would hit $20 million also. Reviews were horrible, at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences fared far better with a "B+" CinemaScore. This looks like a film that will probably get lost in the midst of the bigger releases. But distributor MGM probably won't lose a lot on this one by the time the dust settles.
Following its very solid debut last weekend, Game Night held considerably well in its second weekend. The R-rated comedy was down 37% to $10.7 million, for a decent $33.5 million gross in 10 days. No additional competition in the coming weeks bodes well for the well-reviewed comedy. Also continuing to hold well was Peter Rabbit, which was off only 22% in its fourth weekend. The Beatrix Potter adaptation earned another $10 million, for a solid $84.1 million pick-up in 24 days. The family film will have to deal with the arrival of another book adaptation (A Wrinkle in Time) next week. But it looks like it will get past $100 million at this pace.
Annihilation was down 49% in its second weekend to $5.7 million. The Natalie Portman sci-fi flick has earned a mediocre $20.6 million in 10 days, and will likely finish just north of $30 million. Normally, overseas numbers would bail it out (it had a $40 million budget). But Paramount sold off foreign rights to Netflix, so, nope, not this time. Spending an 11th weekend in the Top 10, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle once again held strong. The action hit was off just 20% to $4.5 million, for a huge $393.2 million gross in 77 days. There's a good chance the film passes the original Spider-Man ($403 million) to become Sony's biggest-grossing movie in their history. It's also at $930 million worldwide with an outside shot at hitting $1 billion.
Having the hardest drop of the list was Fifty Shades Freed. The final installment in the R-rated trilogy was down 54% to $3.3 million, for a decent $95.6 million pick-up in 24 days. Its' also approaching $350 million worldwide. Meanwhile, The Greatest Showman kept on singing in its 11th weekend. Off just 22% to $2.7 million, the musical spectacular has earned a strong $164.6 million in 77 days. Showman ranks as the fourth-biggest live-action musical ever domestically, with a good chance at passing Chicago ($170.8 million) to take third place. Its' also at $375 million worldwide with a little bit of steam left.
Rounding out the Top 10 in its second frame was the romance drama Every Day, which fell 48% to $1.6 million. With $5.3 million in 10 days, its' matched its' $5 million budget. But distributor Orion Pictures probably won't see profit on this one with marketing expenses still in the picture.
That's about it. Next weekend, Disney will likely yield the top spot to another one of its movies as A Wrinkle in Time looks to pull in solid numbers. Meanwhile, three more moderate releases debut. Action flick The Hurricane Heist, dramedy Gringo and horror flick Strangers 2 will likely only pull in a fraction of Wrinkle's numbers. Official predictions coming Wednesday night.
