NEW YORK (AP) — On a quiet weekend in theaters ahead of the upcoming release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Warner Bros. “Black Adam” led the third straight weekend in ticket sales with $18.5 million based on Sunday studio estimates.

"Black Adam," Dwayne Johnson's bid to launch DC Films' new superpower, surpassed $300 million worldwide within three weeks of its release, with a home tally of $137.4 million. That puts the $195 million-budgeted film — the third film this year to lead the Outpost for three consecutive weeks — on course to likely top the $366 million that "Shazam!" grossed in 2019 but much less certain of turning a profit in its theatrical release.

When Walt Disney Co. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on Thursday, it will be one of the biggest opening weekends of the year. Ryan Coogler's original debuted in US and Canadian theaters in 2018 with over $200 million, and projections suggest it could open at around $175 million.

Along with the upcoming Wakanda Forever, only one new film has opened in mainstream release: One Piece Film: Red, distributed by Sony Picture's anime division, Crunchyroll. The Japanese anime sequel, half of the One Piece franchise, debuted in second place with $9.5 million, but not as strong as Crunchyroll's Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which premiered on 21 August $0.1 million, or Funimation's "Jujutsu Kaisen." 0: The Movie,” which grossed $18 million in March, “Red” once again showed that anime is proving to be an exceptionally reliable magnet in North American cinemas. franchise, but the first to be widely distributed in the United States, "Red" attracted a particularly young audience, between the ages of 18 and 34, with around 75% of ticket purchases.

Third place went to "Ticket to Paradise", the romantic comedy directed by George Clooney and Julia Roberts. The Universal Pictures release raised $8.5 million in its third weekend, bringing the rom-com's total from $60 million to $46.7 million domestically and $137.2 million. dollars in the domestic market. For a genre that has struggled in theaters in recent years, "Ticket to Paradise" shows some staying power, especially in being the preferred choice for older audiences.

As Halloween comes and goes, Paramount Pictures' Smile has continued to do well in theaters. In its sixth week of launch, the horror flick added another $4 million to bring it to a total of $99.1 million.

Some of the top 12-month Oscar contenders struggled to make a big impact when they came out. James Gray's Armageddon Time, a coming-of-age story set in 1980s New York, expanded to 1,006 theaters in its second week and grossed $810,000 for Focus Features. Focus' "Tár," starring Cate Blanchett, grossed $670,000 from 1,090 theaters in five weeks, for a total of $3.7 million. MGM's 'Till,' about Mamie Till-Mobley's quest for justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, added $1.9 million from 2,316 theaters on $6.6 million in gross dollars over four weeks.

The best of the series so far has been Searchlight Pictures' The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Irish rowing collaborators. In its third weekend of release, it grossed $3 million in 895 territories, bringing its total to $10.2 million.

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Estimated Friday-Sunday ticket sales at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final national figures are due out on Monday.

1. "Black Adam," $18.5 million.

2. “One Piece Film: Red”, 9.5 million dollars.

3. "Ticket to Heaven," $8.5 million.

4. "Smile," $4 million.

5. 'The Devil's Booty', $3.9 million.

6. "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile," $3.4 million.

7. "The Banshees of Inisherin," $2 million.

8. "Rising," $1.9 million.

9. "End of Halloween," $1.4 million.

10. “Terrify 2,” $1.2 million.

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Follow AP film writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP