‘Black Panther’ Cracks $780M WW Box Office; $1B Coming Closer Into Its Grasp

FRIDAY UPDATE: Passing Marvel stablemate Guardians Of The Galaxy on Thursday globally, Black Panther has lifted its worldwide cume to $780.3M. The breakdown through yesterday is $435.4M domestic and $344.9M at the international box office.

Thursday’s overseas grosses saw a bump from Wednesday with $10.3M in 56 material markets, repping 12% of the previous weekend. Domestically, where, as Anthony D’Alessandro has reported, the film will win the 3rd straight frame, the Ryan Coogler-helmed superhero title has passed E.T. to become the No. 16 all-time release to date.

T’Challa is headed towards an ultimate $1B+ in global play, as we noted yesterday (see below), led by the roaring domestic performance. Internationally, the Wakanda crew is still running well ahead of Doctor Strange, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 and Thor: Ragnarok. Overall, it’s at a current 56% domestic versus 44% overseas split. And China has still to open on March 9 where advance ticket sales are on par with Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The new market in play this session is Japan where BP opened on a non-traditional Thursday and scored a $1M first day, not a bad result in what is not a big Marvel market. As noted yesterday, BP will likely be the No. 2 movie behind local release Doraemon The Movie: Nobita’s Treasure Island this weekend. Japan is a slow-burn hub.

France is another major that has a local film set to dominate the session. Dany Boon’s La Ch’tite Famille opened on Wednesday with the 8th best first day launch ever for a French film and the best start in 10 years. The Hexagon, however, saw no drop from Wednesday to Thursday on BP which scored $700K on each.

And, in Korea, BP‘s No. 2 offshore market, it will likely cede No. 1 to two local films that opened on Wednesday.

The updated breakdown on the Top 10 through Thursday is as follows: the UK ($44.2M), Korea ($39.3M), Brazil ($21.2M), Australia ($19.2M), Mexico ($19.1M), France ($18.2M), Germany ($12.4M), Taiwan ($11.4M), Indonesia ($10.7M) and Malaysia ($8.5M).

PREVIOUS, THURSDAY: Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther has, with Wednesday figures included, grossed $763.3M global as it barrels towards what looks like an inevitable $1B+ total. That’s aided by the wild domestic performance ($428.7M through yesterday) with the movie looking at another winning North America weekend, as Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro has reported. At the international box office, the Ryan Coogler-helmed superhero movie is at $334.6M through Wednesday.

On the domestic front, it’s passed The Lion King, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire to become the No. 17 all-time release to date. Overseas, it’s currently running 38% above Doctor Strange, 15% above Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 and 6% over Thor: Ragnarok. Globally, it’s now topped The Amazing Spider-Man.

On Wednesday, the Wakanda wonder added $8.3M in 55 material international markets, which reps 10% of last weekend’s actual of $85.1M.

Today, the film opens in Japan. This is not a massive Marvel market and BP will likely be the No. 2 movie behind local release Doraemon The Movie: Nobita’s Treasure Island. It isn’t expected to throw off big numbers at opening, though this is a slow-burn hub to watch.

BP will also likely be topped in France this weekend as local hit-maker Dany Boon’s La Ch’tite Famille is out in force with the top opening day of the year yesterday. Weather worthy of Siberia is gusting through much of Western Europe and that could have an overall impact on box office.

BP still has China to come on March 9 and I hear that advance ticket sales in the PROC are on par with Spider-Man: Homecoming which opened to $69M last year. China’s still a wild card, but the overall momentum of this movie is seen pushing it above $1B worldwide — with North American behaving as it is, the Middle Kingdom may not even be the deciding factor in the race to $1B.

As for the current breakdown of Top 10 offshore markets on BP, they are as follows: the UK ($43.8M), Korea ($38.1M), Brazil ($20.6M), Australia ($18.8M), Mexico ($18.8M), France ($17.5M), Germany ($12M), Taiwan ($11.3M), Indonesia ($10.5M) and Malaysia ($8.4M). Of the majors, Italy, typically a soft Marvel hub, and Spain have proved the most resistant, no longer figuring in the Top 15.

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