Can the Black Panther do $1 billion? Black Panther official three day opening weekend came in at $201.7 million. The film has the fifth-highest grossing opening weekend of all time. Black Panther has the record for most tickets pre-sold for superhero movie. It has the eighth-highest grossing opening day of all time. This movie was not expected to surpass $90 million in its opening weekend but has destroyed those projections. Black Panther has grossed over $404 million globally and it’s safe to say that $1 billion is possible. Out of the 18 Marvel movies only four have crossed the billion threshold. Each of those movie hit at least $400 million domestically and we’re boosted by overseas performances. Black Panther has endured success based on audience reactions which is leading to an increase in family and friends sharing their movie-going experience and more people are seeing the movie. The film brought in $40.6 million on President’s Day edging out another Disney movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the biggest Monday in box office history.
Black Panther has a resemblance of DC’s Wonder Woman in which major budgets are not put behind a female director and featuring a female lead. That film went on to make over $800 million worldwide. We are now seeing what a Black director and majority Black cast can do with a major studio budget. Black people are not just supporting this movie because it’s a black film they are because it is a great film as exhibited from his current rotten tomatoes score of 97% which is one of the highest rated superhero films of all time. Black Panther is now also the highest rated Marvel movie of all time based on this rotten tomatoes score. Black Panther has proven that a black director can be big at the box office and a majority black cast can also be proven winners at the box office when given an opportunity. Looking at Feedback from comScore only 37% of the movie goers were African-American which means this film resonated with other races as well. According to comScore the Black Panther viewing audience was 37% black 35% wide and 18% Hispanic.
Black Panther also now has the highest grossing February opening weekend ever beating out 2016‘s Deadpool. Black Panther gave audiences a lot to think about from social justice issues to also foreign-policy aid something that other Marvel films do not. I’ve got my first class tickets to Wakanda. There of been grassroots campaigns for the film as well including the #BlackPantherChallenge which has raised money to send children of color and undeserved areas to see the movie for free. I participated in this process and helped a teacher’s class provide tickets to her students so they can see the film.
A major success of this movie can be attributed to black buying power. I’ve been a marvel fan or comic fan in general for as long as I can remember and I’ve been excited about this film since the Black Panther was introduced in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. The power of Black buyers can be seen as I guarantee you there are millions and millions of people who have never watched a superhero movie and are not interested in comic book movies that are going to see their first Marvel film. Black buying power continues to increase and will be rising to $1.5 trillion in the next couple of years. Blacks have always shown to be a key piece as consumers and the success of this film proves that we can support our own and when we support our own we can do great things in our community. The Black population watches is more television any other person but are not represented in diverse castings most of the time. This film was a major step in the right direction and was extremely important to see for many Black youth. Blacks continue to lead and influence mainstream American culture and culture around the world so it should be no shock to see the success of this film. On top the success of Black Panther, Kendrick Lamar‘s Black Panther album opened at number one on the Billboard charts on it release.
I said this in my last Black Panther post but again Disney NEEDS to create a Wakanda theme park.
Can Black Panther gross $1 billion? It has already grossed $404 million showing a very strong overseas reception and it has yet to release in the huge markets of China, Japan and Russia.
Wakanda Forever!