Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s underperformance at the box office dragged the whole weekend down to the eighth worst of the year.
For accuracy’s sake, I’m using the term “underperformance” deliberately. There’s no question Wakanda Forever is a hit edging towards the $400 million domestic mark. That’s good money. Nevertheless, that’s about 60 percent of what Black Panther (2018) earned. Expectations might not have been as high for Wakanda Forever as $700 million domestic, but the reality of what had been a cultural juggernaut flaming out like this was also unexpected.
Everyone got out of Wakanda Forever’s way expecting it to swamp the competition as the original did. Well, now that the Marvel sequel is underperforming, and with no other moviegoing options available, the overall box office is taking a hit.
Deadline reports:
With an estimated $56.4M for all movies, it’s the 8th-lowest weekend of the year, the bottom belonging to Jan. 28-30, with $34.9M. That’s when Morbius was suppose to go and Sony pushed it to April because of Omicron. Even in pre-pandemic times, this was never a glowing weekend, as people are distracted with holiday activities, though there’s always been a place for a genre movie to at least play to the 18-34 crowd, which Violent Night did to a near 60%. Still, richer days pre-pandemic: The first weekend of December earned $90.3M for all titles back in 2019.
Wakanda Forever is also underperforming worldwide. Its run is just about over and so far its worldwide haul is just $734 million. Black Panther took in nearly $1.4 billion back in 2018.
In the past, Marvel sequels tended to outgross their predecessors. So this has to be a disappointment for Disney. The shocking loss of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman to cancer didn’t help. What also didn’t help was the marketing. What had been a masculine franchise with Boseman and Michael B. Jordan was sold (at least by the trailer) as something feminized. The excitement just wasn’t the same, the reviews were less enthusiastic, and here you have the results.
This is another fumble for the groomers who run Walt Disney. Already, these sickos have destroyed Star Wars, the Muppets, and Pixar as film franchises. All they have left is Marvel, and while Marvel films are still raking in the cash, it’s not as much as in the past. The excitement is also gone. What had been a “special” franchise, now feels like any other superhero movie.
Disney is woke-poisoning all its golden geese. Black Panther was a cultural phenomenon. Now it’s a fading franchise. Is anyone begging for a part three?
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