close menu

BLACK PANTHER Now the 3rd Largest U.S. Box Office Ever

It sounds like the question to ask this President’s Day is not “Did you see Black Panther?” but rather “How many times did you see Black Panther?” Based on its mammoth opening weekend ticket sales, we can conclude that pretty much all of you made a trip to Wakanda, and some of you definitely made more than one.

UPDATE, 4/8/18 – Another weekend, another record, as Black Panther passed Titanic for the third largest U.S. box office ever after crossing the 660 million dollar mark. And it’s 1.3 billion worldwide tickets sale puts it in the top 10, with a shot to pass The Last Jedi in the coming weeks.

3/11/18 – For a movie some weren’t sure would do well overseas, Black Panther continues to be a juggernaut at the box office both domestically and abroad, having now crossed the billion dollar mark in under a month. There’s not much difference in sales either, with its domestic gross at $562 million, and its international box office over $516 million. Turns out the whole world can’t get enough of Wakanda.

2/20/18 – Proving to be a perfect President’s Day pastime, Black Panther‘s Monday grosses earned Marvel’s latest feature claim to further superlatives. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the extended holiday weekend earned the film a record-breaking $241.6 million in ticket sales—the biggest four-day opener intake in North American history; at $40.2 million, the film’s President’s Day grosses accounted for the most money any movie has ever made on a Monday. As far as the international box office is concerned, the weekend graduated Black Panther to a remarkable $426.6 million gross. Keep watch to see just how much more cash Black Panther makes throughout its (presumedly lengthy) stay in theaters!

2/19/18 – We expected the movie to have a huge opening weekend, but it blew past even our wildest expectations, as if Shuri herself was remotely driving sales. Forbes reports that the movie’s three-day domestic box office, which includes Thursday night sales, came in at a whopping $201.8 million, the biggest ever for a film released in the normally slower movie-going month of February (easily besting Deadpool‘s $132 total from 2016). It also topped the record opening weekend for any movie ever released in March and April too.

Overall it came in fifth all-time domestically for opening three-day sales behind only The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Jurassic World, and The Avengers. (And you’d better believe that outperforming even Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War is no lean feat for a standalone Marvel movie.) The AP writes that Disney projects the movie, which had a budget of $200 million, will have a four-day domestic holiday total of $218 million.

As Deadline notes, with an additional $169 million in international tickets sales—despite not opening in China, Japan, or Russia—its total box office take will come in at $361 million, placing it 15th all time for a global opening weekend. So much for those who said a movie with a primarily black cast would struggle to find an audience abroad.

These numbers also give director Ryan Coogler the record for biggest opening weekend box office intake for a black director; before long, Coogler should land the same superlative for biggest box office intake overall. (Said record currently belongs to Sidney Poitier and his film Stir Crazy, which had an inflation-adjusted take of $322 million.)

Are you surprised by the film’s box office success, or did you expect it to set records? Tell us why in the comments below.

Images: Marvel

More on Black Panther

Prince's 10 Most Controversial Songs

Prince's 10 Most Controversial Songs

article
Not Even Kevin Bacon Could Handle This Real-Life Graboid

Not Even Kevin Bacon Could Handle This Real-Life Graboid

article
Solve These DARK TOWER Riddles in Honor of the 19th (Exclusive)

Solve These DARK TOWER Riddles in Honor of the 19th (Exclusive)

article