Black Panther scores eighth-largest single day gross with $75.8 million
What was that about superhero movie fatigue? Black Panther‘s impressive box office rake from preview screenings contributed to an even greater-than-expected Friday opening.
With $75.8 million — comprised of $50.6 million from Friday alone and $25.2 million from Thursday night — the Ryan Coogler-directed Marvel film scored the eighth-largest single-day gross for the industry. It’s also the third-biggest opening for a superhero movie: The Avengers opened with $80 million and Avengers: Age of Ultron opened with $84 million.
This surpasses Captain America: Civil War, which first debuted Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther, with its $75.5 million opening.
Black Panther is now predicted to reach the $190-$210 million range by the end of the four-day holiday weekend. The film also earned an additional $81.5 million from overseas showings.
It’s been years since we’ve seen a black superhero take the lead of a film like this, and fan anticipation has been driving the buzz on Black Panther. Critics largely hailed Marvel’s latest, which features a cast of predominantly black actors and prominent female representation.
Black Panther picks up after the events of Captain America: Civil War when Boseman’s T’Challa must assume the throne of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, the most highly advanced civilization on the globe and the epicenter of the indestructible metal vibranium. Surrounded by the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s all-female military strike force, T’Challa is met by an old enemy (Andy Serkis’s Ulysses Klaue) and a new threat to his kingdom (Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger).
Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Angela Basset, Forest Whitaker, and Martin Freeman also star.
