Box Office: 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Rules With $67.3M, 'She Said' Fails With $2.2M Debut

Disney's comic book sequel 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' has extended its reign at the box - national office. In its second weekend of release, the 30th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe collected $67.3 million between Friday and Sunday. But adult audiences continued to reject movies aimed directly at them, eschewing Universal's "She Said," a look at the two New York Times reporters who exposed Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse.

"Wakanda Forever", which opened at $181 million and generated $288 million in North America and $546.3 million worldwide to date. The movie's 63% drop was bigger than expected. Industry sources were expecting a second weekend of over $70 million in ticket sales.

In comparison, the original "Black Panther" - which generated a $202 million blockbuster in 2018 - declined just 44.7% in its second weekend with $111 million. But it registered as particularly notable activity on the second weekend. Only six movies in history (four of which were Marvel) have grossed at least $100 million in their second releases. More recent MCU entries such as "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," "Thor: Love and Thunder," and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" each fell to Earth dropping roughly 67% after their massive debuts. .

'Black Panther' sequel easily topped the box office charts, even with two new ones movies - Universal's Harvey Weinstein investigative drama "She Said" and Searchlight's dark comedy "The Menu" - have opened in theaters nationwide to work as counter-programming against mighty Marvel heroes.

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Among newcomers, "The Menu" took in $9 million from 3,100 theaters nationwide for a second place. Mark Mylod directed the R-rated satire, in which Ralph Fiennes plays a celebrity chef who cooks a lavish, if perhaps a bit nerve-wracking, meal for a young couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicolas Hoult) and others for hundred.

Director Maria Schrader's "She Said" flopped in its debut with 2.2 million dollars in 2,000 North American theaters. The $32 million budgeted awards season hopeful has been well-reviewed, but critical reviews haven't been enough to help him break through. Audiences who showed up loved the film, giving “She Said” an A CinemaScore.

'She Said' is the latest adult drama to struggle at the box office, joining such underperforming films like "Triangle of Sadness", "Tár" and "Till". Like “She Said,” all of these films earned good reviews and generated Oscar buzz. Maybe older crowds are worried about COVID or maybe they've gotten used to watching things on streaming services, but the prestige pricing business model has capsized.

In a surprise hit, Fathom Events scored with "The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2" , a screening of a faith-based series that grossed $8.2 million to grab the third spot. The top five was completed by Warner Bros. and DC's "Black Adam" with $4.5 million and Universal's "Ticket to Paradise" with $3.2 million. That leaves the two films with a gross domestic revenue of $157 million and $61.6 million, respectively.

Among the specialty titles is director Luca Guadagnino's cannibalistic love story "Bones and All" premiered in five locations in New York and Los Angeles, earning $120,000 for an average of $23,983 per screen. MGM plans to expand the $20 million budget film, starring Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell as flesh-eating lovers who embark on a road trip, nationwide on November 23.

A24's "The Inspection", a drama about a homosexual who enlists in the army during "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", grossed $65,492 across five screens in New York and Los Angles, for a per-screen average of $13,188.