On a dismal film weekend, ‘Wakanda’ stays on top

Disney and Marvel’s ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ has again led the North American box office, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday, but the film’s estimated weekend take of just $11.1 million reflected a deep slump in moviegoing.

Hollywood has suffered from a dearth of big new films and the growing popularity of home streaming services. This weekend’s top 12 films grossed under $35 million, one of the year’s worst totals, analysts said.

In its five weeks out, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ has now taken in a domestic total of $409.8 million. But that is far from the $700.4 million grossed by the original 2018 film, and “Wakanda” is expected to be knocked off its reigning perch next weekend.

The release December 16 of 20th Century’s much anticipated ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ ‘can’t come soon enough,” said BoxOfficeMojo.com. “Until then, the box office is slowing to a crawl.”

In second place this weekend was Universal’s action comedy “Violent Night,” at $8.7 million for the Friday-through-Saturday period. David Harbour stars as a sledgehammer-wielding Santa who takes on some bad guys trying to ruin one family’s Christmas.

Disney’s computer-animated sci-fi film “Strange World” again placed third, with ticket sales of $3.6 million.