Black Panther is winning the fight to be in the conversation as a tremendous box office hit. Not only did Marvel Studios’ Black Panther have great advanced ticket sales and word of mouth, but Disney picked a great weekend to open the movie. With just two nights under its belt, Black Panther now looks poised to leap into the conversation about the all-time greatest 4-day weekend openings and in the top 6 of 3-day weekends. It’s approaching the numbers that make it look like a summer blockbuster, not a spring opener.
Early estimates suggested an opening at $150 million for the 3-day weekend, that amount has been revised up to $185M. Which places it 6th on the list for opening weekends of all-time. When you add in the expected take on President’s Day (Monday), that number could rise to a marvelous $215M.
This will put Black Panther above “Captain America: Civil War” ($179M 3-day) and puts “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($191M 3-day) in reach if Saturday and Sunday perform better than expected.
We reported yesterday that Thursday night’s take of $25.2M was well above expectations and now we know that Friday has brought in an estimated $51M on top of that for $76M so far.
Disney and Marvel have focused on bringing diverse casts to the big screen and audiences have been responding. Look at “Beauty and the Beast,” Star Wars episodes 7 and 8, and (hopefully) the upcoming “A Wrinkle in Time.”
Previously: What it takes to build the world of Wakanda for Marvel’s Black Panther movie.