No one imagined that ‘Black Panther’ would remain such a force in its fourth weekend as it leaps past the $1 billion mark in global ticket sales.
Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time — based on Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved book and targeting younger girls — is off to a troubled start at the North American box office, where it is likely to lose the weekend crown to fellow Disney title Black Panther.
Hobbled by poor reviews and a B CinemaScore, the fantasy-adventure grossed an estimated $11 million-plus on Friday for a weekend debut in the $35 million range. (Friday’s earnings will include $1.3 million in Thursday previews.)
Despite being in its fourth weekend, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther continues to defy the odds. In North America, Black Panther took in $10 million-plus on Friday for a projected weekend haul of $40 million or more.
And sometime on Saturday or Sunday, the history-making superhero film will bound past the $1 billion mark at the global box office after landing in its final foreign market, China. Black Panther is off to a rousing start in the Middle Kingdom, where it boasted an estimated opening-day gross of $22.7 million. That’s the third or fourth best start for a Marvel superhero pic behind Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Both Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time have been heralded for their diversity, both in front of and behind the camera.
DuVernay is the first black woman to helm a $100 million movie, while Storm Reid plays the heroine at the heart of the story, 13-year-old Meg Murry. Reid stars alongside Oprah Winfrey, Levi Miller, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris Pine.
A Wrinkle in Time currently must also withstand a poor Rotten Tomatoes score of 42 percent.
Three additional movies open nationwide this weekend. Aviron’s The Strangers: Prey at Night, a sequel of sorts to The Strangers (2008), is showing the most strength, attracting more than $4 million on Friday for a projected $9 million-$10 million weekend, good enough for a third-place finish. (The film took in $610,000 in its Thursday night previews.)
The other two new wide arrivals — Amazon Studios and STXfilms’ Gringo, a dark comedy starring David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron and Joel Edgerton, and Entertainment Studios’ The Hurricane Heist, directed by Rob Cohen — are already fading fast.
Gringo is expected to place No. 10 with $3 million or more, followed by Hurricane Heist with a projected $2.5 million-$3 million
March 9, 1:05 p.m.: Updated to include early Friday estimates.
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