‘Black Panther’ tops $1 billion, creams ‘Wrinkle’

LOS ANGELES – T’Challa still rules the box office four weeks in, even with the fresh rivalry of new Walt Disney Studios release A Wrinkle in Time.

Black Panther took the No. 1 spot at the North American box office with $41.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, leaving another newcomer in its wake. The Marvel and Disney phenomenon crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide this weekend and became the 7th seventh-highest grossing domestic release with $562 million.

With a marketplace still dominated by Black Panther, Disney faced some stiff competition from its own studio in launching Ava DuVernay’s adaption of A Wrinkle in Time, which opened in second place with $33.3 million. New horror film The Strangers: Prey

at Night, with Christina Hendricks, took third place with $10.5 million. The Jennifer Lawrence spy thriller Red

Sparrow landed at fourth in its second weekend with $8.2 million and the comedy Game Night, about a game night that turns into a murder mystery, placed fifth with $7.9 million in Week 3.

Hardly any of the new releases, which also included the thriller The

Hurricane Heist (which finished eighth with $3.2 million) and the dark action comedy Gringo (11th place, $2.6 million), were well-reviewed going into the weekend.

Final numbers are out Monday.

MARVEL “Black Panther” still has the box office in its paws.