The movie office total for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is closing the gap with that of its predecessor Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Strange 2 is presently the top grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe film of 2022, as well as the second most grossing domestic film of the year, trailing only Top Gun: Maverick. Although film was expected to have a bigger opening weekend than Doctor Strange 2, Black Panther 2, which released on November 11, fell just short, with $181.3 million to Strange’s $187.4 million.
According to THR, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s box office haul increased by $66-$67 million this weekend, bringing the film’s domestic total to over $290 million. This results in a 63% decrease in week two, which is slightly higher than predicted but still better than both recent 2022 MCU films, Doctor Strange 2 & Thor: Love and Thunder. Due to this disparity, Black Panther has closed in on Strange’s box office total for week two.
Can Black Panther 2 Surpass Doctor Strange 2?
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s 10-day total is currently around $2.5 million less than Doctor Strange’s $292.6 million total from the same period last May. If the sequel, which follows the people of Wakanda as they strive to fill the void left by Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther’s death, continues to decline at a similar clip in the coming weeks, it might narrow the gap by the end of next weekend. It will have to compete against Disney’s new animated picture Strange Worlds that weekend, but given that the PG-13 superhero film does not target the same demographic, it may very well succeed.
If that happens, Black Panther 2 will be on solid ground and will compete with Doctor Strange 2 for the rest of its run. At that point, Black Panther could easily surpass the previous film’s totals of $411.3 million domestic and $955.8 million globally, making it the year’s top MCU film. It will have several more weeks to run rampant on the charts, since Avatar: The Way of Water (released December 16) is the only next tentpole with a realistic chance of unseating it.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is also expected to have a successful run due to positive word of mouth. With an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is the third highest-rated film of Phase 4 of the MCU (after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at #2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home at #1), as well as the audience rating is even higher at 95%. That is significantly higher than Multiverse of Madness’ 74% critic score and 85% audience score, indicating that, while the battle will be close, there is a good chance that the Black Panther sequel will triumph.
Source: THR