Upon release, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" dominates the box office.

 Ayo is played by Florence Kasumba, Dorothy Steel plays a merchant tribal elder, and Angela Bassett...

- According to data released on Sunday by trade group Exhibitor Relations, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," the follow-up to the Afro-futuristic Marvel movie that tanked in 2018, won the North American box office in its first weekend of release.

Upon release, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" dominates the box office.

According to Box-Office Mojo, the Marvel movie earned an estimated $180 million between Friday and Sunday in the United States and Canada, making it the 13th highest-grossing movie ever. The movie made an additional $150 million abroad.

Particularly for a mid-November release, it's a phenomenal release, according to Franchise Entertainment Research's David Gross.

"Wakanda Forever" was widely anticipated by audiences and exhibitors, who have been in a box office downturn since the end of the summer season and the decline in the number of high-budget blockbusters.

Upon release, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" dominates the box office.

The movie opened to a healthy $84 million, including $28 million from Thursday previews, somewhat more than the original movie's opening day total.

According to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, "some people may have been expecting for $200 million like the first picture, but it's solid." "This is the kind of film that cinemas truly need to draw crowds with."

Chadwick Boseman, the lead of the first "Black Panther," was honored in "Wakanda Forever" after his passing from colon cancer at age 43 in 2020.

In flashback scenes, the actor plays T'Challa, the king of Wakanda, a fictional African nation.

Following T'Challa's passing, Wakanda finds itself at odds with major international powers, including an undersea country, and battling to preserve its independence.

Along with Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and Angela Bassett, who plays Queen Ramonda, plays T'Challa's sister Shuri in the movie.

Upon release, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" dominates the box office.

The first blockbuster movie featuring a black superhero, "Black Panther," from 2018, became a cultural phenomenon, grossed more than 1.3 billion dollars, and got an Oscar nomination for Best Picture along the way.