The film has drawn rave reviews, with a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating. Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One"-a futuristic tribute to 1980s films-came in second at $24.6 million from Friday to Sunday, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. The Warner Bros. film tells the story of a teenage gamer (Wade Watts) who finds himself inside an addictive virtual reality world. It's earned $96.5 million in two weeks. In third was another new release, Universal's "Blockers," at $20.6 million. A raunchy comedy starring John Cena and Leslie Mann, the movie drew considerable buzz at the South by Southwest film festival.
Still flourishing in its eighth week out, "Black Panther" netted $8.7 million for fourth spot. Already the highest-grossing superhero film in US history, its cumulative total in the US and Canada now exceeds $665.6 million. The film stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong'o. That number takes the film past "Titanic," which had collected $659 million in North America. "Black Panther" is now third in movie ticket sales of all time on the continent. "Avatar" (2009) and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) are still ahead, with $760 million and $936.7 million in ticket sales respectively.
In terms of global sales, "Avatar" leads with $2.8 billion, followed by "Titanic" ($2.2 billion), both directed by James Cameron. "Black Panther" is only 10th worldwide. In North America, the weekend's fifth spot went to psychological thriller "Tyler Perry's Acrimony" with $8.4 million.
Rounding out the top 5 were:
"I Can Only Imagine" ($7.8 million)
"Chappaquiddick" ($5.8 million)
"Sherlock Gnomes" ($5.4 million)
"Pacific Rim: Uprising" ($4.8 million)
"Isle of Dogs" ($4.6 million)--AFP