‘Wakanda’ stays atop N America box office

LOS ANGELES

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” saw weekend ticket sales drop to an estimated $17.6 million but still extended its rule of the North American box office for a fourth week, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said on Dec. 4.

The Disney/Marvel sequel had taken in nearly $46 million for the previous Friday-through-Sunday period. Still, its domestic total has now reached an impressive $393.7 million on top of $339 million in international ticket sales.

Universal’s new holiday-timed “Violent Night” placed second for the weekend at $13.3 million, “a solid opening for an action comedy,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

David Harbour of “Stranger Things” fame stars as a cranky, sledgehammer-wielding Santa who comes to the rescue when bad guys invade a rich family’s home on Christmas Eve. Gross said the film should play well until the Dec. 16 release of much-anticipated “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Disney’s computer-animated sci-fi film “Strange World” claimed third place while taking in just $4.9 million. Given its $180 million production budget, “the movie could lose more than $100 million,” according to HollywoodReporter.com.

In fourth was Searchlight’s horror-comedy “The Menu,” at $3.6 million. Ralph Fiennes plays a celebrity chef who serves up some dark surprises.

And in fifth was Sony’s “Devotion,” an action movie about two U.S. fighter pilots during the Korean War, at $2.8 million.