Cosplayers watch the film Black Panther in Nairobi, Kenya in February 2018. Photo: VCG

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever again ruled the North American box office this weekend, while two new high-budget releases had "weak" openings, analysts said. 

Disney and Marvel's Wakanda took in an estimated $45.9 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, or $64 million for the full Thanksgiving weekend starting Wednesday, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.

But the dropoff was sharp after that popular superhero tale, despite the holiday weekend. Overall, the weekend's top dozen films had 12 percent less in ticket sales than the top 12 of 2021.

In second place was Disney's computer-animated sci-fi movie Strange World, at $11.9 million for three days and $18.6 million for five days. 

And in third place was another new release, Sony's Devotion, which took in $6 million for three days ($9 million for five). 

David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research called that "a weak opening for a war action movie." 

The story about the friendship of two US fighter pilots had a $90 million budget.

Fourth place went to Searchlight's horror-comedy The Menu at $5.2 million ($7.3 million). Ralph Fiennes plays a celebrity chef with some dark surprises on the menu.

And in fifth was superhero film Black Adam from Warner Bros. The Dwayne Johnson vehicle took in $3.4 million ($4.7 million). 

AFP