‘Black Panther 2’ Leads as Event Screening of ‘The ‘Chosen’ Beats ‘The Menu’ and ‘She Said’ Bombs
Fathom Events is showing the first two episodes of The Chosen Season 3,’ about the life of Jesus, in more than 2,000 theaters.
On Friday, it earned $17.9 million for a domestic total of $238.6 million.
The Marvel Studios and Disney tentpole had hoped to clear at least $70 million in its sophomore outing, but is falling more than expected, or 63 percent.
It isn’t uncommon for a Marvel pic to decline more than 60 percent, although the first Black Panther, which opened to $202 million, declined less than 55 percent in its second weekend. The last two Marvel films, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, both posted declines in the 67 percent range, according to Comscore.
Wakanda Forever launched to $181 million in North America last weekend, a November. It was also the second-biggest box office debut of 2022 so far, behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187.4 million).
The new film suffering is Universal’s She Said, which chronicles the work of New York Times investigative reporters Jodi Cantor (Zoe Kazan) and Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) in helping to expose Harvey Weinstein and give rise to the #MeToo movement.
The Universal film is based on the book of the same name authored by the two journalists.
She Said is the latest adult drama to stall at the box office, and may only earn $2.2 million in its debut after earning roughly $830,000 on Friday. That would mark one of the worst openings in recent memory — excluding the pandemic — for a major studio release opening in more than 2,000 locations.
In comparison, 65 percent of The Menu’s audience were between ages 17 and 34. The Searchlight film earned a B CinemaScore.
At the specialty box office, Bones and All is opening in five theaters for a projected screen average of nearly $28,000.
