• The superhero sequel earned an estimated $11 million.
• Bringing its domestic total to $409 million.
• Wakanda Forever is now less than $2 million away.

Disney hit Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has topped the domestic box office for the fifth weekend in a row, due to the lack of competition ahead of the release of Avatar: The Way of Water next week.

This weekend, the superhero sequel earned an estimated $11 million, bringing its domestic total to $409 million.

Wakanda Forever is now less than $2 million away from becoming the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe release of the year at the domestic box office, surpassing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

It recently surpassed Thor: Love and Thunder on both the domestic and international fronts. Wakanda Forever is also only the third film this year to gross more than $400 million in the United States, following Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange 2.

The film’s $767 million global total, on the other hand, falls far short of Doctor Strange 2’s $955 million total.

Wakanda Forever also lags far behind the original Black Panther, both globally and internationally.

The first Black Panther film, directed by Ryan Coogler, grossed $700 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.

Universal’s counter-programmer Violent Night took the second spot with an estimated $8.7 million after debuting with $13.3 million last weekend.

So far, the Christmas-themed action-comedy starring David Harbour as a tattooed Santa Claus has grossed more than $26 million domestically.

Strange World, the latest animated film from Disney, remained in third place this weekend, grossing an estimated $3.6 million from over 3,500 theatres.

With a domestic total of $30 million, the film is one of the biggest flops in recent memory. Strange World, which had a reported budget of $180 million, is expected to cost Disney $100 million.

The Menu, a dark comedy from Searchlight, took the fourth spot once more, earning $2.7 million this weekend for a domestic total of just under $30 million.

The film grossed more than $50 million worldwide despite having a reported budget of $30 million.

However, despite a reported $90 million budget, Sony’s Korean War film Devotion is bombing with only $2 million in its third weekend, for a domestic total of less than $17 million.

A24 also won in the specialty market this year, debuting director Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale to the highest per-theater average of 2022. Brendan Fraser’s divisive drama grossed $360,000 from six theatres, for a per-theater average of 60,000.

This weekend’s total business has been tragic, with less than $39 million as The Way of Water literally scares away all competition ahead of its highly anticipated release next weekend.

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