Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has broken a 2022 domestic box office record during its fourth weekend in theaters. The project, which is the final theatrical film from Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a direct sequel to 2018's Black Panther, handling the fallout of the 2020 death of that film's star Chadwick Boseman. It follows various Wakandan characters including the Black Panther's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) as they attempt to grieve his loss, fill the power vacuum he leaves behind, and fend off an attack from the underwater territory of Talokan, led by the mutant Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía).

Per Variety, the domestic box office of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has earned another win this weekend, taking in a higher-than-expected total of $17.6 million for a cumulative total of $393.7 million. This has allowed it to maintain its status at the number one slot for the fourth weekend in a row, beating out the holiday action thriller Violent Night, which opened wide this weekend. This makes it the first and only film of 2022 to hold that number one slot across four consecutive weekends, beating out previous threepeat titles Black Adam, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and The Batman.

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How Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Compares to the Other Top Films of 2022

Tenoch Huerta as Namor in Black Panther Wakanda Forever looking to the right

Although Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has just broken this particular record, it isn't the number one domestic film of the year. So far it is only number three, behind its Marvel peer Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the dazzlingly successful legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick. While it is neck and neck with Doctor Strange and has every opportunity to outpace its total gross before the end of the year, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever most likely won't steal the throne away from Top Gun: Maverick.

Despite being outpaced by the Tom Cruise vehicle, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was placed in a prime position to break this particular record. The only wide release films that really posed a threat to its box office domination through the month of November were Violent Night and the Disney animated feature Strange World, the latter of which ended up severely underperforming in the box office. This was a much more open season than the release of either Doctor Strange, which was dethroned after week three by Top Gun: Maverick, or Top Gun itself, which held number one for two weeks before the release of Jurassic World Dominion, though it rose to number one again several months later over Labor Day weekend.

As if this record weren't enough, it is entirely possible that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever could take in a fifth weekend at number one if everything goes right. There are no new major wide releases coming next weekend, allowing the film an easy shot at the top slot, in which case it will be the first film since Christopher Nolan's Tenet in 2020 to top the charts for five weekends in a row. However, the superhero sequel will then inevitably be knocked off the board on December 16 by the release of the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, which is projected to have an opening weekend even larger than the original 2009 mega-hit.

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Source: Variety

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