There wasn’t much seasonal joy at the box-office this weekend, with the first frame in December delivering the year’s sixth-worst weekend total of just $52.9 million. Most of that came from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s fourth-weekend gross, and the debut of David Harbour’s R-rated action-comedy Violent Night.
The only real new opener of note, Universal’s Violent Night (read our ★★★ review here) outperformed modest expectations to deliver a solid $13 million weekend. Take into account that it only cost about $20 million to make, and it’s worldwide gross for the weekend is $20.4 million, and this one looks to have enough momentum in its sleigh to carry it to a healthy profit until Avatar: The Way of Water steals all the gifts from under the tree.
Sat atop said tree until James Cameron’s behemoth drops in two-weeks time will be Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which completed its four-timer with a $17.6 million weekend, taking its domestic total to $394 million. The Ryan Coogler directed sequel is on its way to becoming the second largest domestic release of 2022 behind Top Gun: Maverick (which re-released to the tune of $700K this weekend) when it surpasses Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which currently sits at $411 million domestic. The worldwide gross for Wakanda Forever is $733 million and counting.
Strange World continued its dash towards a Disney+ streaming release with a catastrophic second-week of $4.9 million. The $130 million budgeted Disney cartoon took its worldwide total to a paltry $42.3 million after 12 days.
Let us know what you went to see over the weekend by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth. All off the box-office facts and figures can be found over at BoxOfficeMojo.