If we had told you two or three years ago that Black Panther would not only beat Justice League‘s opening weekend at the box office, but more than double it, you probably would have asked us what we were smoking. But here we are and that’s exactly what’s happened. T’Challa, who was arguably a B, maybe even C-list comic book character for years, has now blown right past any and all expectations to post a hugely impressive $192 million opening.
Not only does that give it the fifth biggest opening, ever – behind only The Avengers, Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens – but as we just said, it’s also more than double what DC’s tentpole did back in November, when it opened to a severely underwhelming $93.8 million. Not that that number is bad in and of itself, but for a film that features iconic characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and more, it’s certainly nothing to celebrate.
Circling to Black Panther though, and Ryan Coogler’s spinoff is now a bonafide cultural phenomenon, with audiences and critics showering it with praise and the film finding itself the talk of the town. Don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon, either, as President’s Day weekend extends until tomorrow, at which point the pic will have made roughly $218 million. And, with the amount of buzz swirling around it and fans running back to theaters to catch it again, that number will only continue to skyrocket.
Whether it’ll be able to hit the coveted $1 billion worldwide mark remains to be seen, but with a global haul of $361 million already in the bank, it shouldn’t have too much trouble doing so. And for a film based around a character who most general moviegoers probably didn’t even know about before his introduction in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, that’s absolutely incredible and just goes to show how well Black Panther is resonating with audiences.
