Saturday, May 30, 2026

Wakanda is Not Forever: Despite $67 Mil Weekend, “Black Panther” Business Way Behind Original

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“Wakanda Forever” made a very robust $67 million this weekend. That’s more than most of the movies on the 50 make in their whole runs.

But is it as popular as “Black Panther,” the original? In a word, no. “Wakanda Forever” fell 63% in its second weekend. “BP” dropped only 45% back in 2019.

The declines came every day this week, and they will follow this week, even with Thanksgiving. The trend would suggest that most people who wanted to see “Wakanda” have seen it. Now it’s time for stragglers and second timers.

But the energy that propelled “Black Panther” to $700 million in the US doesn’t seem to be there. By now, “Black Panther” already had $400 million in the tank. “Wakanda” is running at $287 million. Certainly nothing to sneeze it, but a cold a may be coming. Maybe a lot of fans are waiting for the inevitable run on DisneyPlus? We’ll see…

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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