By the end of Friday, Black Panther had racked up another $16.3 million to add onto its frankly gargantuan domestic take. That was way more than enough to easily keep the Marvel juggernaut at the top of the box office as Red Sparrow, this weekend's most prominent wide release, brought in some $6 million to arrive in the second spot. Indeed, as I suspected when Black Panther opened, it won't be until next weekend's release of A Wrinkle in Time - another major Disney release - that Ryan Coogler's extravagant hit will see some real competition.

red-sparrow-jennifer-lawnrece-joel-edgerton
Image via 20th Century Fox

This is an oddly complex situation for any moviegoer who is aware of the movie industry outside of the movies themselves. To see Coogler and Ava DuVernay, two of the best American filmmakers currently working, putting major works out under the Disney banner with diverse casts is an unprecedented and long-awaited step forward in terms of Hollywood representation for black people. On the other hand, Disney's increasingly tight stranglehold on the industry has never been more clear and if the Fox deal does indeed go through, their influence on the movie business will simply be without rival. That being said, it also gives other big studios a reason to branch out and get more ambitious with their projects, seeking out directors, casts, and stories that don't speak primarily to white, middle-class, and predominantly male audiences.

If such a far-off world existed now, one might have never had to confront the fact that people of influence funded and released a remake of Death Wish that doubles down on the absolute worst ideas that came out of the not-very-good original. The new film, which stars Bruce Willis in the role of an upper-middle-class professional who becomes a vigilante after his family is fatally attacked, landed in third on Friday with $4.2 million, which at the very least suggests that this will likely be its first and only weekend in the top five. It's also likely the last weekend we'll see Game Night, which came in at fourth with $3 million, and Peter Rabbit, which is currently in fifth with a little over $2 million, in the top five, depending on how Gringo, Strangers: Prey at Night, and The Hurricane Heist do next weekend. Still, the bigger question remains: Will A Wrinkle in Time be able to topple Black Panther, even after three weekends of wide release? Stay tuned.

Here's the top five at the box office for Friday:

Title

Friday Domestic BO

Total Domestic BO

1. ‘Black Panther’

$16,304,000

$451,704,037

2. ’Red Sparrow’

$6,025,000

$6,025,000

3. ‘Death Wish’

$4,275,000

$4,275,000

4. ‘Game Night’

$3,035,000

$25,862,766

5. ‘Peter Rabbit’

$2,075,000

$76,135,376

game-night-rachel-mcadams-jason-bateman
Image via Warner Bros.
bruce-willis-roast
Image via MGM
peter-rabbit-movie
Image via Sony Pictures