The so-hot-right-now Black Panther movie is many things.
The biggest box office opening for an African-American director? Check. The biggest February opening in history (sorry, Deadpool)? You bet. And as of this week, Marvel’s Afrocentric blockbuster now holds the record for the biggest Monday of all time with $40.2 million, too.
But the accolades don’t end there for T’Challa, as we’re now learning that the pic has broken another record previously held by Joss Whedon’s 2012 effort, The Avengers. After scoring the best Tuesday ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Black Panther has just clinched the best Wednesday as well, surpassing the aforementioned team-up. Whedon’s blockbuster pulled in $13.6 million a few years back but yesterday, Coogler’s film managed to collect $14.5 million.
That means Black Panther now has a worldwide total haul of $476 million ($263 million domestic, $213 million international), with the film on pace to crack $500 million this weekend. That’s a staggering amount of money for any movie, let alone one based on a character who was only introduced pretty briefly back in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and before then, was a B, maybe even C-list hero in the comic books. But I guess it just goes to show what a wonderful job Ryan Coogler and co. did that the spinoff is resonating so well with people.
Black Panther is now playing across screens near and far – just don’t be fooled into thinking that we’ve seen the last of Wakanda. Between talk of a direct sequel and Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel’s fictional utopia is about to become a familiar destination for moviegoers in 2018 and beyond. But for the time being, we can all sit back and watch as T’Challa continues to climb his way right to the top of the box office charts. Long live the king!
