“Wakanda Forever” broke a box office record, but Disney is still prepping for economic winter

This weekend, Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever triumphed over covid-19 production delays and the death of its lead actor, Chadwick Boseman, by becoming the second-biggest domestic opening weekend of 2022. The sequel to Black Panther is also the biggest domestic box office opening for November at $180 million, beating out 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the previous record holder for the month at $158 million.

Globally, the Black Panther sequel pulled in about $330 million. That’s significantly less than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Doctor Strange 2), which drew $450 million worldwide during its opening weekend. Those results...