Domestic box office results: Wakanda and Violent Night remain dominant

As expected, Disney/Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever remained atop the domestic box office charts with an additional $11.1 million in the prize pool. The superhero epic has grossed $409.8 million domestically and around $767 million worldwide. Those are certainly decent numbers, but nowhere near as outlandish as Black Panther's $1.3 billion global take. Wakanda Forever may not even top Doctor Strange's $955 million in the Multiverse of Madness, despite having had the cineplex all to itself for the past month.

Meanwhile, Universal's Violent Night continues to draw in viewers hungry for bloody Christmas spirit. The gory action-comedy dropped 47% in weekend 2 and raised $8.7 million to take its domestic cume to $26.7 million.

Elsewhere, Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser, opened in New York and Los Angeles and won the biggest limited opening of the year, per Deadline. The A24 pic collected $360,000, or $60,000 per screen on average, marking the director's biggest opening since his Black Swan.

The cumulative box office brought in $38.3 million, which was precariously close to the low point of 2022: the last week of January only grossed $34.87 million. With a curious lack of films in the multiplex lately, this weekend is the perfect opportunity for James Cameron to step in and take on the world once again with Avatar: The Way of the Water.

Box Office Results: National Top 10

1.) Wakanda Forever Dis 3,725 (-130) theaters, Fri $2.8M (-37%), Sat $5.1M Sun $3.1M 3 days $11.1M (-37%), total $409.8M/week 5

2.) Violent Night Uni 3,723 theaters (+41), Fri $2.4M (-50%) Sat $3.89M Sun $2.39M 3 days $8.7M (-40%), total $26.7M/week 2

3.) Strange World Dis 3,560 (-614) theaters, Fri $787,000 (-28%) Sat $1.8M Sun $1M 3 days $3.6M (-29% )Total $30.4M / week 3 Everett Collection

4.) The Menu Sea 2,710 (-100) theaters Fri $825,000 (-21%) Sat $1.2M Sun $675,000 3 days $2.7M (-21%) Total 29M $/Week 4

5.) Sony Devotion 3,458 theaters (+53) Fri $600,000 Sat $885,000 Sun $515,000 3 days $2m (-26%) Total $16.9m/Week 3

6.) Black Adam (WB) 2,143 (-88) theaters Fri $330,000, Sat $630,000, Sun $380,000 3 days $1.34M (-14%) Total 166.8 M$/week 8

7.) The Fabelmans (Uni) 973 (+355) theaters Fri $340,000 Sat $510,000 Sun $330,000 3 days $1.18m (-7%) Total $7.3m/Week 5

8.) Met Opera: The Hours (Fath) 826 Sat Soundtrack is $791,000/week 1

9.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 973 theaters (+445) Fri $233,000 Sat $295,000 Sun $221.8,000 3 Days $750.7,000, Total $4.07M/ Week 2

10.) Spoiler Alert (Uni) 783 (+777) theaters Fri $250,000 Sat $240,000 Sun $210,000 3 days $700,000 (+744%), Total $803,000/Week 2

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