Sawt Falasteen - 'Wakanda' extends its box-office reign in N.American theaters

That take for the sequel to the hugely popular "Black Panther" -- with the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda again fighting for its survival -- was a bit below industry expectations despite a current global total of $546 million, trade publications said.

But it was still more than seven times its closest competitor in North American theaters, Searchlight's new horror-comedy film "The Menu," which took in $9 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

"The Menu" stars Ralph Fiennes as a celebrity chef who prepares an elaborate -- and increasingly creepy -- meal for a group of wealthy, entitled people (including Anya Taylor-Joy of "The Queen's Gambit") who have no idea what, or who, is about to be served.

In third place was a surprise success, "The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2," a crowd-funded Christian movie that pulled in $8.2 million. "By Christian drama film standards, it's a very good opening," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Another new release, "Drishyam 2," a Hindi-language crime thriller from Yash Raj Films, was also a bit of a surprise. Like "The Chosen," it had ticket sales of $8.2 million.

And in fifth place, down three spots from last weekend, was "Black Adam" from Warner Bros., at $4.5 million. Dwayne Johnson stars in the "Shazam!" spinoff.

That left a more publicized new film, Universal's "She Said" -- the story of how New York Times reporters uncovered producer Harvey Weinstein's history of sexual abuse -- trailing in seventh place, despite what Gross said were "excellent" reviews.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Ticket to Paradise" ($3.2 million)

"She Said" ($2.3 million)

"Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" ($1.9 million)

"Smile" ($1.2 million)

"Prey for the Devil" ($935,000)

F.AbuShamala--SF-PST