'Black Panther' is first film since 'Avatar' to win box office for 5 weekends running

Jake Coyle | The Associated Press

Show Caption Hide Caption The 5 most inspiring characters in ‘Black Panther’ Black audiences will see themselves reflected in a way they haven’t before when the Marvel superhero makes his big-screen solo debut.

NEW YORK – Not since Avatar has a box-office hit had the kind of staying power of Black Panther. Ryan Coogler's comic-book sensation on Sunday became the first film since James Cameron's 2009 smash to top the weekend box office five straight weekends.

The Disney release grossed $27 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates, pushing its domestic haul to $605.4 million. Worldwide, Black Panther has grossed more than $1.1 billion.

Though Black Panther has had little competition to contend with throughout February and March, such consistency is rare in today's moviegoing world. Before Avatar, the last film to do it was 1999's The Sixth Sense.

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That left second place to the rebooted Tomb Raider, starring Alicia Vikander as the archaeologist adventurer Lara Croft. The $90 million film opened with $23.5 million, failing to stir much excitement among moviegoers. Critics gave it mediocre reviews (49% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and ticket-buyers responded with a "meh," giving it a B grade on CinemaScore.

With Vikander stepping in for Angelina Jolie, Tomb Raider is an attempt to rekindle a video-game franchise that faded quickly the first time around. The 2001 original opened with $47.7 million and grossed $274.7 million worldwide, but the big-budget 2003 sequel flopped.

Tomb Raider was No. 1 overseas, grossing $84.5 million, but the continued success of Black Panther didn't help. When release dates were being set a year ago, few could have foreseen Black Panther being No. 1 five weeks in. "How could you?" says Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros.

Alicia Vikander talks about taking on Lara Croft 'Tomb Raider' star Alicia Vikander talks about playing Lara Croft, who was first brought to the big screen by Angelina Jolie.

Last week, Black Panther even bested Disney's own A Wrinkle in Time, Ava DuVernay's adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 novel of the same name, starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. In its second week, Wrinkle fell to fourth place, dropping 50% with $16.6 million.

The surprise of the weekend was the Christian drama I Can Only Imagine, which blew away expectations to open third with $17.1 million on 1,629 screens — less than half the number that Black Panther, Tomb Raider and A Winkle in Time played on. The film, which co-stars Dennis Quaid and Cloris Leachman, cost only $7 million to make. It stars J. Michael Finley as Bart Millard, the MercyMe singer behind the biggest hit in Christian music.

The faith-based film stuck with a grassroots marketing effort focused on Southern, Southwestern and suburban moviegoers; 80% of the audience was over 35.

"We did really work the film," says Howard Cohen, co-founder of Roadside Attractions, the movie's distributor. Starting in October, "we were screening the film for faith-based influencers."

'I Can Only Imagine' reveals story behind hit song MercyMe's lead singer Bart Millard says he wrote their hit song "I Can Only Imagine" in 10 minutes, but the back story took a lifetime. It's now being brought to the big screen.

Playing to a virtually opposite audience was gay teen romance Love, Simon, the first film from a major Hollywood studio featuring a gay teen protagonist, which thrived mainly in urban areas. It made its debut in fifth place with $11.5 million.

Greg Berlanti's film, adapted from the best-selling young-adult novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, stars Nick Robinson as a gay 17-year-old who has yet to come out when another closeted boy from his high school begins an anonymous e-mail romance. The film garnered strong reviews (91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences agreed, giving it an A-plus on CinemaScore.

According to comScore, the weekend was down 50% from the same weekend in 2017 when Beauty and the Beast opened with a record-breaking $174.8 million.

Final figures are expected Monday.

Contributing: Kim Willis