Black Panther has come onto tracking…hot.
The Marvel Studios film is said to be eyeing a $100M-$120M debut in North America, according to figures relayed by The Hollywood Reporter, and there’s every chance that number could climb higher still once the review embargo lifts on Tuesday, February 6th.
Buoyed by a four-day Presidents’ Day weekend in the States, not to mention the groundswell of support for Marvel’s first mainstream black superhero movie, Black Panther is clearly riding the crest of a wave, so there’s no telling how high T’Challa will climb.
What we do know, however, is that a $100M-$120M opening weekend at the domestic box office is markedly higher than Doctor Strange ($85 million), Marvel’s last franchise-starter featuring a totally new character (sorry, Spidey), and just shy of Thor: Ragnarok‘s domestic opening, given the Taika Waititi threequel managed to score $122M when all was said and done.
Unsurprisingly, it’ll be 2018’s biggest opening thus far, while also being the first major tentpole of the year. And what a tentpole it’s shaping up to be.
With T’Challa at its core and an entire nation (read: Wakanda) ready to be explored, Black Panther also features an A-list cast comprised of Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and The Last Jedi duo Andy Serkis and Lupita Nyong’o, the latter of whom seemingly signed on to star as Nakia without so much as reading the script.
Hail to the king: Marvel’s Black Panther will cordially invite us all into the lush, thriving world of Wakanda on February 16th – four days after the film’s premiere across the pond.