'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Dominates Thanksgiving Box Office

It was another good weekend for Marvel's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." As many likely expected, the sequel racked up another big box office weekend win, its third in a row, at the domestic box office. Per Box Office Mojo, the film brought in another $45.9 million for the weekend and an estimated $64 million for the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend overall.

The weekend was essentially "Black Panther's" to win. It had very little in the way of competition this weekend. The only other major release was another Disney film, the animated family film "Strange World," which didn't fare well.

Another big release was Netflix's "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," which had a landmark theatrical release on November 23. "Glass Onion" brought in $9.4 million for the opening weekend and $13.3 million for the holiday weekend overall. A good take considering its limited theatrical release in about 696 theaters.

One other wide release this weekend was Sony and Columbia Pictures' "Devotion," which flopped, bringing in only $9 million at the box office. The cannibalistic "Bones and All" didn't seem to lure much in the way of audiences either, bringing in only $3.7 million for the holiday weekend.

"Wakanda Forever's" current performance brings the film up to $367 million domestically and about $675 million at the global box office. Its dropoff for the three-day weekend was a respectable 31%. Plus, the Thanksgiving weekend gave its box office performance a little extra oompf.

While the film is unlikely to make anywhere close to where the first "Black Panther" finished at $1.38 billion worldwide, that is understandable.  The first "Black Panther" was released before the global pandemic, and it was also released in more territories overseas, including China and Russia, where "Wakanda Forever" won't be released.

Not to mention, the franchise moved on without its original lead in the late Chadwick Boseman. As reported by Deadline, the sequel is currently tracking about 7% ahead of Marvel's earlier 2022 sequel, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" at 17 days into its release. "Multiverse of Madness' finished with $411 million domestically and $955 million worldwide. "Wakanda Forever" should easily surpass that number domestically.

If it gets close to a billion or just under it, that would also likely be a solid and highly profitable number for Disney. However, the film did have a hefty price with a reported budget of $250 million before marketing, per Indiewire.

Where the film ends up remains with its box office take remains to be seen, but it won't have much in the way of huge competition at the box office until the release of James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" next month. By the time Cameron's "Avatar" sequel is released, "Wakanda Forever" will have largely finished its run at the box office, or at the very least, made most of its box office take by that point.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is directed by Ryan Coogler from a script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole. It stars Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Lupita Nyong'o, Dominique Thorne, Martin Freeman, and Richard Schiff. The film is now playing in theaters everywhere.