“Black Panther” Breaks Another Record, Eclipsing All Newcomers

For a record-breaking fifth week, Black Panther remained the No. 1 movie in America. The last time moviegoers decided to just go back to the same movie this many consecutive weekends was Avatar. It became only the seventh movie to cross $600 million domestically, and while that's certainly impressive, at this point its success feels a little exhausting, killing the chances of smaller movies that are also worth your time and hard-earned dollars.

The reboot of Tomb Raider proves Alicia Vikander can open a movie, but it's not a solid start for a new franchise. It's basically half of what Angelina Jolie's version pulled in 17 years ago. The more impressive start is for I Can Only Imagine. Based on the massive Christian pop song (and the life story of the man who wrote it), the film is the first faith-based effort with crossover appeal since 2015's War Room. There's been a cottage industry for these smaller-budgeted message movies, but very few of them have had widespread success.

A Wrinkle in Time slumped to fourth place as it struggled to cross $60 million. This means a $100 million domestic gross is basically out of the question, and it's not doing so hot overseas either. This is a big letdown for Disney, and for those of us who liked the film. And then there's Love, Simon. The film had rapturous early screenings and seemed destined for a Fault in Our Stars-level of success. But despite good reviews, the high school-set romantic comedy/coming out story didn't get the audience it deserved, taking in only $11 million. Hopefully word-of-mouth keeps it around for another few weeks.

Outside the top 5:

• This Weekend's Indie Champ: Flower, that other dark comedy about teenage girls seeking bloody vengeance. (Thoroughbreds opened on about 500 screens last week and died too quickly.) The film averaged $19,284 on its three screens.
• Peter Rabbit became the second movie of 2018 to cross $100 million, beating out Fifty Shades Freed by a hare. (Sorry. Had to.)
• 7 Days in Entebbe might not even last seven more days. The historical thriller opened below the 13th weekend of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (which crossed $400 million) with a weak $1.6 million.

Next week:

Pacific Rim: Uprising will take on romantic melodrama Midnight Sun and the animated sequel of sorts Sherlock Gnomes. Considering Black Panther has beaten everything else that's come in its path, I say it hangs on yet again, earning another $22 million, edging out Sherlock Gnomes.