We all knew this day was coming. After five weeks of leading the top five,Black Pantherwill now take home second place honors in its sixth frame with some estimated $16.6 million againstPacific Rim: Uprising’s middling $28 million domestic take, which puts it at the top of the box office. And though $28 million doesn’t seem like much for a film that was produced for $150 million, the disposable sequel toPacific Rimracked up some $120 million overseas this weekend. IfReady Player Onedoesn’t eat up all of its audience next weekend, it could actually turn a profit by the end of its run and secure reason enough to explore a third film in the franchise.
Despite these meager triumphs forPacific Rim: Uprising,Black Pantherstill essentially won this weekend for a different reason. Current estimates suggest that the Marvel hit will have brought in a little under $631 million by the end of today, meaning thatBlack Pantheris now the highest grossing comic-book movie ever made after topplingAvengers' $623 million take. And mind you, that $623 was what the movie made at the time it had completely exited theaters.Black Pantherhas only vacated the number one spot as of right now and will likely have a few weeks and perhaps even months bringing in small batches of millions. Even asAvengers: Infinity Warlooms,Black Pantheris giving the upcoming Marvel epic quite the number to beat. By the time it leaves the top five,Ryan Coogler’s vibrant, moving blockbuster will have beatenJurassic Worldto become the fourth highest grossing domestic film of all time and might even overtakeFrozenand 2017’sBeauty and the Beastto enter the top ten highest grossing movies worldwide.
In comparison, the rest of the top five was largely ignorable.I Can Only Imagine, which was made for some $7 million, is currently holding steady in third with a somewhat admirable $13.8 million, bringing its cumulative total to $38.3 million. If the movie weren’t so thunderously condescending, unquestioning, and shallowly pious, it would deserve some genuine accolades. The only other major wide release of the week,Sherlock Gnomes, came in at fourth with $10.6 million, just barely beating outTomb Raiderin its second frame with $10.4 million. Expect both of them to get the boot next weekend whenReady Player One,Acrimony, and the latestGod’s Not Deadmovie arrive, but don’t expectBlack Pantherto go anywhere for awhile.
Here’s the top five at the box office for the weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
1. ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’
$28,003,000
2. ’Black Panther’
$16,658,000
$630,916,236
3. ‘I Can Only Imagine’
$13,837,495
$38,316,986
4. ‘Sherlock Gnomes’
$10,600,000
5. ‘Tomb Raider’
$10,430,000
$41,748,108
