“Black Panther” was going to be big, but no one could’ve guessed that Marvel‘s latest would be huge. Not only is the film a victory for representation in blockbusters, it’s also a massive win at the box office.
“Black Panther” opened to an astonishing 3-day haul of $192 million and is expected to set a President’s Day holiday weekend record with $218 million by time Monday night rolls around. The 3-day total marks the second highest Marvel movie opening since the $207 million tally of “The Avengers” back in 2012. The opening is bigger than any DC Films Extended Universe picture to date; in fact, the $218 million holiday weekend total for “Black Panther” is just shy of $228 million “Justice League” earned domestically during its entire run. So, how big will “Black Panther” get? Well, if it sticks to the trajectory of “The Avengers” or ‘Age Of Ultron‘ (the third biggest debut in Marvel history) it will end up with $1.4 or $1.5 billion worldwide. Indeed, the picture is doing gangbusters abroad too, racking up an additional $169 million, bringing the total weekend haul to $361 million. Wowsers. And with an A+ Cinemascore — the first Marvel movie to earn that grade since “The Avengers” — it’s going to be sticking around for a while.
As you might guess, the rest of the box office was fairly quiet. Aardman Animation‘s “Early Man” netted a meagre $3.1 million for Lionsgate, who are likely already looking to VOD and home video to boost up that bottom line.
The Pure Flix release of Bible movie “Samson” scraped into the top ten with $1.9 million, and it will probably be the first and last time we write about the film.
Meanwhile, a handful of movies started rolling into the arthouse — “Double Lover,” “The Party,” “Nostalgia,” “Loveless” — but none made particularly big waves.
1. “Black Panther” — $192 million
2. “Peter Rabbit” — $17.2 million ($48.2 mil.)
3. “Fifty Shades Freed” — $16.9 million ($76.1 mil.)
4. “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle” — $7.9 million ($377.6 mil.)
5. “The 15:17 To Paris” — $7.6 million ($25.4 mil.)
6. “The Greatest Showman” — $5.1 million ($154.4 mil.)
7. “Early Man” — $3.1 million
8. “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” — $2.5 million ($54 mil.)
9. “Winchester” — $2.2 million ($21.8 mil.)
10. “Samson” — $1.9 million