Entertainment

Black Panther smashes box-office records with $200 million+ opening weekend

There was an air of excitement and buzz surrounding Black Panther that was unlike anything seen for any other movie in a long while. The movie was already doing well in advance sales, surpassing some of Marvel’s best sellers. And for a short period of time leading to its release, critic reviews and strong word of mouth were the chief driving factors in building up that hype. With box-office figures available though, Black Panther is now a universally global giant, surpassing many of Marvel’s own attempts at superhero filmmaking and coming close to some of the best openings out there.

Numbers courtesy Box-Office Mojo indicate Black Panther had one of the strongest openings in Hollywood ever. And we’re not just talking about February or first quarter figures here. After debuting to a $75 million opening day, Black Panther has made $201.8 million in its opening three days at the North American box-office. To put that number in context, that’s merely $6 million away from Marvel’s best opening ever, a record held by The Avengers with $207 million. Add to this the collections of President’s Holiday and the total rises to $241.96 million. That four-day total is now the second highest of all time, behind the $288 million made by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That’s right Black Panther has made more in four days than even Marvel’s The Avengers. Taking international totals into account, Black Panther sits at a healthy $426.8 million worldwide, well above its $200 million production budget.

There’s no stopping Black Panther as the film has shattered opening weekend records all over and looks set to create many more in the days to come. A half a billion dollars is a mere formality at this stage; the movie could very well be sprinting towards a $1 billion haul. This should give Marvel’s upcoming Avengers: Infinity War a significant boost since both Black Panther and Wakanda are slated to play key roles in the movie. In fact, Marvel could very well re-align its marketing campaign for Avengers: Infinity War to showcase more on Black Panther than previously intended.

It’s an exciting time to be a superhero fan. We were able to catch a screening of Black Panther ourselves and wrote a review which you can check out here. What are your thoughts on the movie’s box-office gross? Do you see it touching the $1 billion mark? Or do you feel the hype will fizzle out soon and the movie will eventually settle for what seems at this stage, a modest $800 million? Share your thoughts in the comments below.