‘Black Panther’ tops ‘Wrinkle’ as Disney dominates at the box office

Black Panther kept up its record-setting ways in North American theaters over the weekend, easily defeating a challenge from another Disney product, newly released A Wrinkle in Time, to again dominate the box office, industry analysts said.

The Disney/Marvel superhero collaboration took in an estimated $41.1 million for the three-day weekend, website Exhibitor Relations reported. That bumped it up to a domestic total of $562 million in its four weeks out, making it the seventh biggest domestic release ever.

Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as the superhero king of a utopian if fictional African country. It is now the first movie since Star Wars: The Force Awakens to top North American box offices for four consecutive weekends.

A Wrinkle in Time, a science fantasy adventure that celebrates diversity and powerful women, took in $33.3 million for its opening weekend.

The movie, about a search through time and space for a missing father, stars Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine.

In third place this weekend was new horror film The Strangers: Prey at Night, from Aviron studios. This sort-of sequel to 2008’s The Strangers took in $10.5 million. The poorly reviewed movie – Variety says it serves up “the same old meatpuppet gore and scares” – stars Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson as a couple whose house is invaded by three dangerous masked men.

Next was Fox spy thriller Red Sparrow, with Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian ballerina-turned-elite spy. The movie, which took in $8.2 million in its second week out, also stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Rampling.