As expected, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever made a smashing debut and raked in $330 million globally.

In the domestic box office race, director Ryan Coogler’s sequel to his 2018 blockbuster bowed with $180 million, the second biggest opening this year and the third in the COVID-19 era, after Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Favorable word of mouth is reportedly helping drive the brisk business for Wakanda Forever, a somber tribute to Black Panther 1’s Chadwick Boseman, whose death in August 2020 shocked the world.

In the new film that topped the North American chart, Boseman’s T’Challa is given a touching sendoff in the story written by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole. This time, Disney and Marvel Studios’ follow-up stars Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Martin Freeman, and Dominique Thorne.

Black Panther 2 also broke the best November debut set by Jennifer Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013.

After its three-week box office supremacy, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam dropped to second place. But the DC Extended Universe movie still collected a hefty $10 million for a tally of $152.5 million so far.

George Clooney and Julia Roberts’ ticket back to the romantic-comedy genre is still booking solid revenues. Ticket to Paradise, at number three, drew $6.3 million and a four-week cume of $56.7 million.

Also proving to have strong legs is Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, the live-action-CGI hybrid starring Constance Wu, Javier Bardem, and Shawn Mendes (the title character’s voice) which bagged the fourth spot in its sixth week. The adventure-comedy snagged $3 million and has now picked up a total of $40.6 million.

Rounding out the top five is the season’s surprise hit, the horror flick Smile, which hauled $2.28 million. The sleeper hit has now earned $102.7 million after seven weeks.

Comprising the rest of the top ten were, in order: Prey for the Devil, $1.9 million; One Piece Film: Red, based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, which debuted in second place but fell to seventh place, $1.53 million; The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson and directed by Martin McDonagh, $1.5 million; Till, director Chinonye Chukwu’s biographical drama featuring Danielle Deadwyler, $685,000; and Yashoda, an Indian Telugu-language action thriller top-billed by Samantha Ruth Prabhu, which opened with $395,000.

Internationally, Wakanda Forever also reigned. The action-adventure-drama surged with $150 million and was especially solid in Brazil, Korea, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and France.

Box office pundits are pointing out that there is no word yet on whether Black Panther 2 will also be released in China. The original film had the advantage of being shown in the world’s biggest film market and went on to gross $105 million in that country. The sequel also does not have the benefit of being exhibited in Russia.

Meanwhile, Black Adam hit the $200 million benchmark overseas – $201.1 million, to be exact, from revenues in more than 70 territories.

Also marking offshore milestones are Smile, with $107.2 million, and Ticket to Paradise, nearing the $100 million mark with $93.5 million.