‘Tomb Raider’ Can’t Topple ‘Black Panther’ As The Superhero Claims 5th Straight #1 [Box Office]

Another weekend comes to an end, and “Black Panther” still reigns as King of the box office.

This week, with competition from big-budget, franchise reboot “Tomb Raider” and a pre-Easter showing from a faith-based film, ‘Panther’ was poised to have another close-call for the top spot. However, with an estimated $27 million weekend, “Black Panther” ended up repeating, pretty easily, at #1 for the fifth weekend. But before we begin our weekly showcase of “Black Panther’s” latest, outstanding accomplishments, let’s take a look at the two big newcomers this week.

“Tomb Raider,” the latest attempt by Hollywood to create a film franchise based on a video game, came in at #2 with an estimated $23.5 million. With a budget right around $100 million, the reboot film has a definite uphill battle towards profitability. MGM/Warner Bros. is hoping that the film, which features Alicia Vikander taking over the role of Lara Croft from mega-star Angelina Jolie, will have a much better showing overseas.

An opening in the low $20+ million range puts “Tomb Raider” along the same trajectory as the “Resident Evil” franchise in the late-2000s. Those films all finished in the $40-50 million range domestically, which is a poor total for a film with “Tomb Raider’s” budget. The reason “Resident Evil” was a successful franchise, that spawned multiple sequels, was two-fold. The budgets for those films were about half the cost of “Tomb Raider,” and also, the international totals out-grossed the domestic totals, by a fair amount. However, at this rate, it looks like this potential new female-led action franchise is DOA.

“I Can Only Imagine” was the big shocker this weekend, even though we should have seen it coming. The faith-based film, with a frugal $7 million budget, opened at #3 with $17 million. As surprising as that number is, it’s important to note that this time of year is the prime release window for Christian films, with Easter right around the corner. Last year, “The Shack” opened in March with a similar opening weekend, and a domestic total of $57 million. In 2016, “Miracles from Heaven,” another low-budget faith-based film, opened with a slightly less-impressive $14 million, but ended with a very respectable $61 million domestically. If “I Can Only Imagine” finishes in that range, this is yet another win for micro-budget faith-based films.

The other major opening this weekend was teen film, “Love, Simon” at #5 with $11.5 million. With a modest budget of only $17 million, this is a perfectly fine opening for the film from director Greg Berlanti.

But the biggest news this weekend is, again, “Black Panther”

Continuing its dominance, the superhero film just won’t stop, piling up impressive stat after impressive stat. After its fifth week, “Black Panther” has now amassed a $605 million domestic total. While that total still puts the film at #7 all-time on the domestic chart, ‘Panther’ is now poised to pass “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “The Avengers” to move into the top 5 domestically, in the next week. With projections in the $650 million range, for the film’s final domestic total, “Black Panther” could end up as high as #3, passing “Jurassic World” and “Titanic.” Impressive, indeed.

(Side note, just for perspective: A $650-ish million domestic total will put “Black Panther” right in line with the $657 million WORLDWIDE total for the Warner Bros./DC film, “Justice League.” Poor, poor DC.)

Now, observant readers might see a trend with all the “Black Panther” superlatives. While media outlets are raving about these domestic totals for ‘Panther,’ people don’t seem to talk about the international numbers, much. There are two primary reasons for this. First, international totals for films tend to roll out slowly, with individual territories picking up steam later. Second, and probably most troubling, is that the numbers for “Black Panther” just aren’t great, internationally, when compared to other films of this size.

Currently, “Black Panther” sits at $577 million outside of North America. Obviously, that’s not a horrible total, by any means. However, compared to Marvel Studios films, and blockbuster films, in general, the numbers do tell an interesting story. There are projections that ‘Panther’ could end its run internationally with a $600 million total. That total would put “Black Panther” right around #45 all-time, overseas. When compared to a potential #3 domestically, this is startling.

If the $600 overseas total rings true, this would mark only the 3rd MCU film to have a domestic total HIGHER than the international total, with the only two films to do that being “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” back in 2008 (the MCU’s infancy).

Normally, MCU films tend to have a domestic/international split along the lines of 35% domestic and 65% international. “Black Panther” is on pace to do about 52% domestic and 48% international. While no one is going to cry about a $1.25 billion worldwide total for ‘Panther,’ these percentages do paint a picture of the film’s impact here versus overseas.

There’s no denying that “Black Panther” is an absolute juggernaut in North America, becoming the biggest pop culture story and a milestone film for the industry. The electricity surrounding the release of the film is unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time. However, overseas this film is playing out like a good-to-great MCU film. By the end of its theatrical run in North America, ‘Panther’ will be the biggest MCU film of all time, beating even “The Avengers.” But overseas, the film will finish somewhere around #5 in the MCU, behind both ‘Avengers’ films, “Iron Man 3,” and “Captain America: Civil War.”

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t meant to throw shade on “Black Panther’s” incredible theatrical run. If anything, this just illuminates how much of an impact ‘Panther’ is having on culture, particularly in North America.

Next week, “Black Panther” looks for an incredible 6th straight #1 but is fighting an uphill battle against “Sherlock Gnomes” and “Pacific Rim: Uprising.” However, as we’ve seen, don’t ever count T’Challa out.

Here’s the top 10 for March 16-18:

1. Black Panther — $27M ($605M Overall)
2. Tomb Raider — $23.5M (Debut)
3. I Can Only Imagine — $17M (Debut)
4. A Wrinkle in Time — $16.6M ($61M)
5. Love, Simon — $11.5M (Debut)
6. Game Night — $5.6M ($54.1M)
7. Peter Rabbit — $5.2M ($102.4M)
8. Strangers: Prey at Night — $4.8M ($18.6M)
9. Red Sparrow — $4.5M ($39.6M)
10. Death Wish — $3.4M ($29.9M)