Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the seventh movie released in 2022 to earn more than $300 million domestically. The movie is the last theatrical release from Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four and made its debut on November 11 in theatres. Despite Thor: Love and Thunder, this summer’s MCU entry, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, this May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it is still a close race between the two films.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s domestic total increased significantly by $9.6 million on Tuesday, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Deadline. Its domestic gross now stands at $303.7 million, making it just the fifth movie in 2022 to achieve so. The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Jurassic World: Dominion, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Minions: The Rise of Gru are some of the other movies that achieved that target throughout the year.
It was initially predicted that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s opening weekend would easily surpass that of Doctor Strange, but it actually performed a little worse than expected. However, it only debuted slightly lower by $6 million, and a smaller week 2 decline allowed it to significantly close the gap between the two movies by this Sunday, narrowing it to only $2 million.
The Disney animated feature Strange World, which is underwhelming, was supposed to be this weekend’s main holiday competitor. With that not much of a threat anymore, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to continue making money through the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday and shows no signs of slowing down until the December 16 release of the tentpole Avatar: The Way of Water.