'Black Panther' again slays North American box office

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Disney's "Black Panther" sunk its claws into the top spot once again this weekend at the North American box office, taking an estimated 108 million US dollars, industry estimates showed Sunday.

Following a record-shattering opening weekend - raking in 242.2 million dollars - the frenzy to see the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued, bringing total earnings to an astronomical $400 million in just 10 days, according to tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Its global take is now more than 700 million dollars.

It is only the fourth movie ever to make more than 100 million dollars in its second weekend, joining "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Jurassic World" and "Marvel's The Avengers," according to Disney, which owns Marvel Studios.

Cast member Lupita Nyong'o poses for a portrait while promoting the movie "Black Panther" in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 30, 2018. ‍/Reuters Photo

Directed by Ryan Coogler, "Black Panther" features an almost entirely black cast led by Chadwick Boseman as the first non-white superhero to get his own standalone movie in the franchise.

Starring alongside the likes of Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o and Daniel Kaluuya, Boseman plays the titular superhero also known as T'Challa, king and protector of Wakanda, a technologically advanced, affluent, never-colonized utopia in Africa.

In at an anything-but-close second place was the newly-released dark comedy "Game Night," with 16.6 million dollars.

Featuring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, the film follows a group of friends whose game night descends into a murder mystery.

Dropping one place into third was "Peter Rabbit," based on Beatrix Potter's classic children's book.

Sony's family-friendly offering brought in 12.5 million dollars in its third week in theaters.

Paramount's new science fantasy horror "Annihilation" was off to a weak start, debuting in fourth place at only 11 million dollars. Starring Natalie Portman, the film - based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer - tells the story of a team of military scientists who go into a quarantined zone known as "The Shimmer."

The stage photo of film Fifty Shades of Freed. /Photo via Douban

Finally, in at fifth was "Fifty Shades Freed" - the last film in the trilogy based on the wildly successful novels by EL James - with takings of 6.9 million dollars.

Rounding out the top 10 were: "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (5.65 million dollars), "The,15:17 to Paris" (3.6 million dollars), "The Greatest Showman" (3.4 million dollars), "Every Day" (3 million dollars), "Early Man" (1.7 million dollars).

"Black Panther" will not open in Japan or China until March 1 and March 9 respectively.

The action film Operation Red Sea has been a new rise in China's film market. /Xinhuanet Photo

The Chinese box office has been delivering some gigantic numbers for the Chinese New Year.

Chinese actioner Operation Red sea continued to rise as it is the No. 1 movie internationally this weekend, with 107 million dollars weekend number from six markets, lifting the worldwide gross to 334.6 million dollars, according to comScore.

“Detective Chinatown 2” grossed 80 million dollars from six territories to push its worldwide total to 414 million dollars. “Monster Hunt 2” added on 33.5 million dollars in eight markets for a worldwide box office total of 323 million dollars.

Source(s): AFP