Wakanda Forever continued to kill at the box office, bringing in another $67.3 million over the weekend and boosting the flick’s 10-day domestic sales total to $288 million. Massive.  Add in foreign sales and Wakanda has already made $546 million. In 10 days. Whoa. 

What I like about this is that it pretty much means Ryan Coogler can do whatever he wants for at least the next 10 years. And something tells me Coogler isn’t going to be doing a whole lot more of this superhero junk. I’m sure the Black Panther movies have been a fun learning experience, but the guy has a big imagination, and I find it hard to believe that he’s fulfilled by these men-in-tights films. 

Coogler’s next film, Wrong Answer, will star Michael B. Jordan with a script from the great Ta-Nehisi Coates. That’s the kind of work Coogler should be doing, in my opinion. But yay, Wakanda. Happy for y’all.

Also at the Box

Mark Mylod’s The Menu has been getting great word of mouth, taking the No. 2 spot at the domestic box office and selling a solid $9 million over its first three days of release. This one sounds fun. 

Something called The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 took the No. 3 spot, selling $8.2 million over its first three days of release. I have no clue what this is. Two episodes from Season 3 of a Christian television show? At the movies? Is this a new trend? I gotta say, if AMC played the last three episodes of season four of The Wire, I’d be there with bells on. That being said, this one feels weird to me. 

Moving on, Black Adam is still selling tickets. Yay. The Rock film took the No. 4 spot with another $4.8 million, bringing its five-week worldwide sales total to $366 million. Sounds like a lot of money, but The Rock and his friends expected this one to be in the $800 million-plus range. Whoops. 

Cute rom-com Ticket to Paradise continued to sell tickets, taking the No. 5 spot at the box with another $3.2 million in sales. So far, the George Clooney-Julia Roberts comedy has sold $62 million in the U.S. and $158 million worldwide. I love that a rom-com for adults (that’s probably not even that good) is doing well at the box. That’s a good sign. 

Outside of blockbusters

Also of note, there are a whole lot of really good prestige films at the theaters right now. 

I’d recommend looking to see if any of the following are showing: Triange of Sadness, Tár, Bones and All, Aftersun, The Fabelmans, Amsterdam, Till, The Banshees of Inisherin, and Armageddon Time. 

That‘s a whole lot of good stuff to choose from.

New this Week

Thanksgiving weekend will see the expansion of a lot of the aforementioned films, including Steven Spielberg’s much discussed new film, The Fabelmans. Also, look out for Bones and All, Devotion, and Strange World. 

I imagine I’ll watch all four eventually. Strange World in particular looks like a good time at the movies. Most people, I’d guess, will just be going to Wakanda. Oh well. Get it, Coogler.