It’s often the case that when a film sets a new record on opening weekend, it creates a long-lasting domino effect.
And there is perhaps no better example of that momentum than Marvel’s Black Panther, which continues to obliterate box office records with each passing day. Up first was the historic four-day weekend in North America, when the Ryan Coogler pic collected around $242 million – outstripping Justice League‘s domestic haul in one fell swoop.
It gets better, too. Just yesterday, we learned that Black Panther‘s Monday haul ($40.2 million) was enough to trump The Force Awakens ($40.1 million), and now, T’Challa has added yet another box office accolade to his gilded trophy cabinet: the biggest pre-summer Tuesday ever after earning an estimated $21.07 million. That’s bigger than last year’s Beauty and the Beast ($17.8 million), and the best Tuesday for any installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – even better than The Avengers ($17.6 million).
For the record, Star Wars: The Force Awakens still holds the all-time Tuesday record with $37.3 million, but make no mistake, Black Panther is a force to be reckoned with. As a matter of fact, Deadline reports that the Marvel epic is currently eyeing a second weekend in the region of $104 million and $109 million, which, to put things into perspective, is still bigger than Justice League‘s opening weekend ($97 million).
And that’s just it. Black Panther feels more like a pent-up cultural movement than your average installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It also flies in the face of the outdated Hollywood logic that a film featuring a predominantly black cast won’t sell. Because with its wonderfully diverse cast and crew, Black Panther has “obliterated expectations” and hopped straight into the Hollywood history books, where it’ll likely remain for a long, long time.
