‘Black Panther’ stays on fire, surpasses ‘Lion King’ and ‘Hunger Games’

The superhero phenom flick is continuing to break box office records

Mar 2, 2018

Black Panther in costume thegrio.com — Disney (Courtesy of Marvel)

Black Panther just can’t be stopped.

The biggest, Blackest movie of the year has only been out for two weeks, but already, it’s the 17th highest domestic release, surpassing big films like The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It’s only $7 million away from surpassing E.T. — The Extraterrestrial to claim the 16th spot, according to Variety.

By the end of the weekend, Black Panther could catapult into the annuls of movie history to become one of only ten movies to blast past $500 million domestically. Forecasts are putting the movie at between $55 million and $75 million for its third weekend. For comparison, Marvel’s Avengers movie took in just over $55 million during its third weekend.

Breaking records all over the place

Black Panther has been winning since the very beginning. It broke open the record for the highest February debut for a movie, blasting past the record set by Marvel’s Deadpool.

The film was expected to break past the $800 million mark worldwide, according to Forbes. By the end of the weekend, it will likely be one of the top ten all-time superhero releases, having brought in another $8.3 million on Wednesday alone.

The success of Black Panther of course has other historical significance. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Black-led film, it’s the biggest opening for an African-American director ever and there are already talks of Marvel wanting Ryan Coogler to do more.

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige told Variety he “absolutely” would welcome Coogler back for a sequel.