‘Black Panther’ Surpasses ‘Tomb Raider’ for Fifth Box Office Crown

Disney-Marvel’s “Black Panther” has maintained its momentum at the domestic box office, winning its fifth consecutive weekend with $27 million from 3,834 locations.

Alicia Vikander’s “Tomb Raider” finished second in its opening weekend in line with expectations with $23.5 million from 3,854 sites for Warner Bros. and MGM.

Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions’ faith-based drama “I Can Only Imagine” outperformed forecasts with $17.1 million at 1,629 venues, notching the top per-screen average in the top 10 with $10,476.

Disney’s second weekend of time-travel adventure “A Wrinkle in Time” followed in fourth with $16.6 million at 3,980 locations, lifting its 10-day total to $61.1 million. “Wrinkle,” directed by Ava DuVernay, declined by exactly half from its opening weekend.

Fox’s launch of gay teen comedy-drama “Love, Simon” took fifth with $11.5 million at 2,402 venues, amid strong support from critics with a 91 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “Simon,” starring Nick Robinson as a conflicted high schooler.

“Black Panther” has become only the seventh title to pass the $600 million milestone at the North American box office, and is the second-fastest film to do so. It’s the fourth-highest fifth weekend of all time, and the first time a film has held the top spot for five weekends in a row since 2009’s “Avatar.”

“Black Panther” has totaled a stunning $605.4 million in 31 days. It’s poised to pass “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ($619.8 million) for sixth place and “The Avengers” ($623.4 million) for fifth place on the all-time domestic list by the end of next weekend. And it’s likely to eventually pass “Jurassic World” at $652.3 million for fourth place and “Titanic” at $659 million for third place. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” tops the list at $936 million followed by “Avatar” at $760 million.

“‘Black Panther’ continues to astonish as it shows incredible strength fully five weeks into its amazing run as it takes on another batch of notable newcomers and comes out on top,” said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore.

“Black Panther” will face competition next weekend from Universal-Legendary’s launch of “Pacific Rim: Uprising” and Paramount’s animated comedy “Sherlock Gnomes.” Recent tracking for the “Pacific Rim” sequel has been in the $20 million to $30 million range while “Sherlock Gnomes” was in the $13 million to $18 million range.