'Black Panther' Surpasses 'Tomb Raider' for Fifth Box Office Crown
LOS ANGELES, March 18, (Variety.com) - Disney-Marvel's "Black Panther" has maintained its momentum at the domestic box office, winning its fifth consecutive weekend with $27 million from 3,834 locations.
Alicia Vikander's "Tomb Raider" finished second in its opening weekend in line with expectations with $23.5 million from 3,854 sites for Warner Bros. and MGM. Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions' faith-based drama "I Can Only Imagine" outperformed forecasts with $17.1 million at 1,629 venues.
Disney's second weekend of time-travel adventure "A Wrinkle in Time" followed in fourth with $16.6 million at 3,980 locations, lifting its 10-day total to $61.1 million. Fox's launch of gay teen comedy-drama "Love, Simon" took fifth with $11.5 million at 2,402 venues.
"Black Panther" has become only the seventh title to pass the $600 million milestone at the North American box office, and is the second-fastest film to do so. It's the fourth-highest fifth weekend of all time, and the first time a film has held the top spot for five weekends in a row since 2009's "Avatar."
The overall box office took in about $130 million, down 50 percent from the same weekend last year when Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" opened with $174.5 million. Thanks to "Black Panther," the year-to-date box office is up 2 percent over the same period a year ago at $2.5 billion, according to comScore.
Black Panther
King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds... Read the Plot