Is there any stopping Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther? Currently the talk of the town, and for good reason, Marvel’s latest effort is another smashing success for the studio, who can seemingly do no wrong as of late. What’s perhaps most interesting about it, however, is just how high its box office projections have climbed.
If you recall, it was first pegged for a $110-$120 million debut, which would have no doubt been more than enough. Then, it was projected to hit $150-$165 million, before this week the estimates were raised again to $180 million. Again, any of those numbers would surely have put a tremendous smile on the face of all Marvel execs, but now we’re learning that if everything goes well, T’Challa may actually claw his way to a $210 million opening weekend.
Yes, you read that right, $210 million!
That’s a staggering amount by any standard and after Friday’s $76 million haul, it’s now looking likely. Already, the film is breaking – or on its way to breaking – records left right and center (eighth-highest opening day, third largest opening day for a Marvel movie, biggest President’s Day opening weekend, etc.), but what’s most impressive is that it may actually beat The Avengers.
Joss Whedon’s 2012 pic earned $207 million over its opening weekend and if Black Panther does indeed nab $210 million, that’ll put it just slightly above Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ first team-up pic. We don’t need to tell you how impressive that is, but for the sake of perspective, $210 million would give Coogler’s spinoff the third biggest opening, ever. With only Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star: Wars The Last Jedi ahead of it. In other words, this is basically unprecedented.
Yes, Black Panther is a Marvel movie, and anything from the studio is basically guaranteed to make money. But still, T’Challa isn’t an A-list hero and was only introduced into the franchise in 2016’s Civil War. Not to mention this is also his first standalone outing and audiences haven’t even really gotten the chance to know him that well yet.
So, to see that the movie may end up not only beating The Avengers but also landing in the company of a franchise like Star Wars, well, that just goes to show how special this film really is and how well it’s resonating with people. Of course, there’s every chance Black Panther may fall a bit short and only gross $200-$205 million, but either way, it’s already a tremendous success and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
