On a dismal film weekend, 'Black Panther Wakanda Forever' 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.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

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.

Searchlight's horror-comedy 'The Menu,'starring Ralph Fiennes, held at fourth place, taking in $2.7 million.

And in fifth was Sony's 'Devotion,'about the friendship of two US fighter pilots during the Korean War, at $2 million.

One weekend bright spot, said Variety.com, was A24's 'The Whale,'which in limited release took in $360,000 from just six theaters, the best per-screen average this year. Brendan Fraser, in a prosthetic suit, stars as a 600-pound (270-kilogram) man who tries to reconnect with his daughter.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

'Black Adam'($1.3 million)

'The Fabelmans'($1.2 million)

'Met Opera: The Hours'($791,000)

'I Heard the Bells'($751,000)

'Spoiler Alert'($700,000)