Black Panther surpasses Tomb Raider for fifth box office crown

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Disney-Marvel's Black Panther has maintained its momentum at the domestic box office, winning its fifth consecutive weekend with US$27 million (S$36 million) from 3,834 locations.

Alicia Vikander's Tomb Raider finished second in its opening weekend in line with expectations with US$23.5 million from 3,854 sites for Warner Bros. and MGM.

Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions' faith-based drama I Can Only Imagine outperformed forecasts with US$17.1 million at 1,629 venues.

Disney's second weekend of time-travel adventure A Wrinkle in Time followed in fourth with US$16.6 million at 3,980 locations, lifting its 10-day total to US$61.1 million.

Fox's launch of gay teen comedy-drama Love, Simon took fifth with US$11.5 million at 2,402 venues.

Black Panther has become only the seventh title to pass the US$600 million milestone at the North American box office, and is the second-fastest film to do so.

It's the fourth-highest fifth weekend of all time, and the first time a film has held the top spot for five weekends in a row since 2009's Avatar.

The overall box office took in about US$130 million, down 50 per cent from the same weekend last year when Disney's Beauty and the Beast opened with US$174.5 million.

Thanks to Black Panther, the year-to-date box office is up 2 per cent over the same period a year ago at US$2.5 billion, according to comScore.