Black Panther Set For Record Breaking Debut At The Box Office

Black Panther is coming through the four-day weekend heading toward an astonishing projected $218 million debut, estimates show on Sunday, according to Variety.

The Marvel-Disney film premiered at 4,020 locations in North America over the long President’s Day weekend and raked in a record-breaking $192 million for the three-day weekend.

The film held an approximate $200 million production cost. The most original estimate from January 25 predicted the Ryan Coogler-directed smash to bring in $100 and $120 million. The latest number doubles the initial prediction.

The Thursday preview alone became the second-largest preview gross for a Marvel film and the largest Thursday night preview gross for a February opener, bringing in an incredible in $25.2 million. Adding to the long list of impressive milestones, Black Panther also killed the record for the largest President’s Day weekend, beating out 2016’s
Deadpool, which reached the $152 million mark.

The film, starring Chadwick Boseman, officially secured the fifth-biggest domestic opening of all time, the best of all superhero films besides Marvel’s The Avengers, which brought in $207.4 million in its first three days (not including inflation).

Along with Boseman, the movie features a star-studded cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.