‘Black Panther’ Dominates Box Office Opening Weekend With $218 Million, Breaks New Records And More

Black Panther has ushered in a new era for Marvel Studios and has set the bar high for the superhero movie genre. Charging its way to box office dominance this week, the film, which stars Chadwick Boseman in the titular role, scored an estimated $218 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend in North America and $387 million worldwide.

Early in its run, Black Panther gross ticket sales has already broken several box office records, including the record for the highest President’s Day opening, edging out Deadpool, which earned $152 million within the same period in 2016.

The film, which prides itself in having an all-black cast and takes inspiration from African culture and heritage, holds the record for being the top-grossing film in history directed by an African-American director. The throne was previously claimed by Straight Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray, which netted $214 million worldwide, the New York Times wrote.

It also holds the biggest opening for a movie helmed by a non-white director. Previously, James Wan and his Furious 7 film, which also featured a diverse cast, sat on the throne with $1.5 billion in sales worldwide.

Black Panther far exceeded expectations by a large margin. Ahead of the movie’s release, analysts predicted it to hit the $165 million benchmark in North America.

It also claimed the record for the biggest Friday-Sunday launch for a non-sequel/prequel, stripping the title away from The Hunger Games, which opened with $152 million in March 2012.

Compared to other superhero movies, Black Panther rules all the other solo debuts. Black Panther’s number crushed Iron Man 3’s Fri-Sun opening weekend run of $174 million, Forbes reported.

As a far as comic book adaptations go, Black Panther failed to defeat The Avengers, which is still leading the Friday-Sunday opening bracket with $207 million. However, it did surpass Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s $166 million opening and has even beaten Justice League‘s$228 million gross sales in North America.

Black Panther’s recent digits do not include sales from China, the second largest movie market in the globe, as the movie won’t be available in local cinemas until March 9. The same goes for Japan and Russia, which will get to see the critically-acclaimed movie much later than the rest of the world.

Marvel’s Black Panther is being celebrated by fans and critics alike for its stellar portrayal of African life and culture. The film’s setting and custom design took inspiration from real-life culture and tradition of African nations.

The Black Panther cast also include Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Forest Whitaker, and Angela Bassett.