It was just a matter of time before this came up, now wasn’t it?
Since its U.S. release on February 16th, Black Panther has blazed a trail straight into Hollywood’s hall of fame, notching all sorts of prestigious records along the way. First came that staggering opening in North America, when the pic earned around $202 million – a new high for Marvel solo movies – before collecting an additional $108 million at the domestic box office this past weekend.
With the sky seemingly the limit for T’Challa, you’ve got to imagine that Disney is now looking into every imaginable way to squeeze as much money out of the property as possible and the next logical step would be, as many have already guessed, a theme park. Given that the company is already developing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land, it’s not too crazy to think that they’d be looking into bringing Wakanda to life, too, and in a recent investor conference, CEO Bob Iger hinted at such a thing.
When asked if there’ve been any discussions yet on having a Black Panther theme park, Iger said:
“No. We haven’t had a chance to build a ride, though I’m sure there are people who are working on it.”
Though the CEO only mentions a ride, the setting and characters of the film could easily fill an entire park, with the rich, vibrant culture of Wakanda being the perfect backdrop to house various attractions. Perhaps more than any other Marvel movie, T’Challa’s first standalone outing really lends itself to a theme park and given what a monster it’s been at the box office, there’s no doubt in our minds that Disney will eventually head down that route.
Until then, though, Black Panther continues to reign supreme. Buoyed by stellar reviews and a tremendous amount of goodwill, the Ryan Coogler-directed pic earned an estimated $108 million in its sophomore frame, placing it on course to crack $1 billion – thereby joining the likes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Avengers – in the coming weeks.
