“Black Panther” Breaks Another Record, Eclipsing All Newcomers

BOX OFFICE REPORT

March 16-18, 2018

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Black Panther $27.0 million
Tomb Raider $23.5 million
I Can Only Imagine  $17.0 million
A Wrinkle in Time $16.5 million
Love, Simon $11.0 million

For a record-breaking fifth week, Black Panther remained the No. 1 movie in America. The last time moviegoers decided to just go back to the same movie this many consecutive weekends was Avatar. It became only the seventh movie to cross $600 million domestically, and while that's certainly impressive, at this point its success feels a little exhausting, killing the chances of smaller movies that are also worth your time and hard-earned dollars.

The reboot of Tomb Raider proves Alicia Vikander can open a movie, but it's not a solid start for a new franchise. It's basically half of what Angelina Jolie's version pulled in 17 years ago. The more impressive start is for I Can Only Imagine. Based on the massive Christian pop song (and the life story of the man who wrote it), the film is the first faith-based effort with crossover appeal since 2015's War Room. There's been a cottage industry for these smaller-budgeted message movies, but very few of them have had widespread success.

A Wrinkle in Time slumped to fourth place as it struggled to cross $60 million. This means a $100 million domestic gross is basically out of the question, and it's not doing so hot overseas either. This is a big letdown for Disney, and for those of us who liked the film. And then there's Love, Simon. The film had rapturous early screenings and seemed destined for a Fault in Our Stars-level of success. But despite good reviews, the high school-set romantic comedy/coming out story didn't get the audience it deserved, taking in only $11 million. Hopefully word-of-mouth keeps it around for another few weeks.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Flower, that other dark comedy about teenage girls seeking bloody vengeance. (Thoroughbreds opened on about 500 screens last week and died too quickly.) The film averaged $19,284 on its three screens.
  • Peter Rabbit became the second movie of 2018 to cross $100 million, beating out Fifty Shades Freed by a hare. (Sorry. Had to.)
  • 7 Days in Entebbe might not even last seven more days. The historical thriller opened below the 13th weekend of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (which crossed $400 million) with a weak $1.6 million.

Next week:

Pacific Rim: Uprising will take on romantic melodrama Midnight Sun and the animated sequel of sorts Sherlock Gnomes. Considering Black Panther has beaten everything else that's come in its path, I say it hangs on yet again, earning another $22 million, edging out Sherlock Gnomes.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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