"Black Panther" continues to lead North American box office for four weekends

LOS ANGELES, March. 11 (Xinhua) -- Disney and Marvel Studios' "Black Panther" continued to lead North American box office for four weekends in a row with an estimated earning of 41.13 million U.S. dollars, crossing the one-billion dollar mark worldwide.

The superhero film has grossed a spectacular 562 million dollars in North America through Sunday. It also earned 100 million dollars internationally this weekend, pushing its international cume to 516.6 million dollars and global cume to 1,078.6 million dollars to date, according to the studio figures collected by comScore.

It's the 16th Disney release to reach the one-billion dollar milestone and the fifth Marvel Cinematic Universe picture to do so after "The Avengers," "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Iron Man 3" and "Captain America: Civil War."

Directed by Ryan Coogler, "Black Panther" stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther who returns home as king of Wakanda but finds his sovereignty challenged by a long-time adversary in a conflict with global consequences.

Another Disney's movie, "A Wrinkle In Time," opened in second place with an estimated 33.31 million U.S. dollars in this Disney dominated weekend.

The science fantasy adventure film was directed by Ava DuVernay and stars Oprah Winfrey, Storm Reid, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Chris Pine. It based on the 1962 popular fantasy novel of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle and follows a young girl who, with the help of three astral travelers, sets off on a quest to find her father, who went missing after discovering a new planet.

It's rare at North American box office that films both led and directed by African-Americans have grabbed the first and second place at the same time.

Aviron Pictures' horror film "Strangers: Prey At Night" opened in third place with an estimated 10.48 million dollars in it first weekend. Directed by Johannes Roberts and starring Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison and Lewis Pullman, the film is a sequel to the 2008 film "The strangers."

20th Century Fox's spy thriller "Red Sparrow" landed in fourth place with an estimated 8.15 million dollars in its second weekend. Warner Bros.' dark comedy mystery film "Game Night" finished fifth with an estimated 7.9 million dollars in its third weekend. Enditem