'Black Panther' again slays North American box office

LOS ANGELES: Disney's "Black Panther" sunk its claws into the top spot once again this weekend at the North American box office, taking an estimated US$108 million, (RM422 million) industry estimates showed Sunday.
Following a record-shattering opening weekend — raking in US$242.2 million — the frenzy to see the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued, bringing total earnings to an astronomical US$400 million in just 10 days, according to tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Its global take is now more than US$700 million. The film has yet to open in China or Japan.
It is only the fourth movie ever to make more than US$100 million in its second weekend, joining "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", "Jurassic World" and "Marvel's The Avengers", according to Disney, which owns Marvel Studios.
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 newly-released dark comedy "Game Night", with US$16.6 million.
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 US$12.5 million 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 US$11 million.
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".
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 US$6.9 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
"Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (US$5.65 million)
"The 15:17 to Paris" (US$3.6 million)
"The Greatest Showman" (US$3.4 million)
"Every Day" (US$3 million)
"Early Man" (US$1.7 million) — AFP