Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Holds No. 1 Spot As Box Office Gears Up For Avatar: The Way Of Water Splashdown

By /dec. July 11, 2022, 4:40 PM EST

There's a big advantage to being the last blockbuster before a James Cameron movie arrives: you can dominate during the calm before the storm. Such is the advantage enjoyed by "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", which enjoys its fifth straight weekend at the top spot in an otherwise deadly silent box office.

The 13-year follow-up to the greatest movie of all time, "Avatar: The Waterway," is also Cameron's first feature film since 2009's "Avatar." Despite its monstrous success At the box office, "Avatar" has also weathered a lot of criticism over the past decade: from accusations of being a "Pocahontas" rip-off to arguments that it didn't have a lasting impact on pop . culture, to obsessions over the font used for the title. No one is quite sure "The Way of Water" can repeat the success of the original film - not even Cameron himself.

But Hollywood has learned not to bet against a James Cameron movie. Since the arrival of "Wakanda Forever" on Nov. 11, the release schedule has been very quiet, with new movies made up largely of Oscar hopefuls and mid-budget fare like "Violent Night." No studio wants any of its top suitors caught in the window between a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and a James Cameron film: the risks of being crushed by 'Wakanda Forever' or crushed by 'The Way of Water' " are too high.

All of this means that, according to The Wrap, it was the second-lowest box office weekend of the year, second only to the January 28 weekend when "Spider-Man: No Way Home" enjoyed its seventh weekend in the #1 spot (insert joke about Spider-Man being very leggy here).

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” added another $11 million to its domestic total over the weekend, passing the $400 million mark to reach a total of $409 million. Globally, the film grossed $767.8 million – slightly more than 'Thor: Love and Thunder' but considerably behind 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness', which had very good numbers at the time. foreign. Domestically, however, "Multiverse of Madness" has reached $411 million, meaning "Wakanda Forever" is a sneeze away from becoming the biggest MCU film of the year at the North American box office. /p>

Now all eyes will be on "Avatar: The Way of Water" as we find out if we're ready for