LOS ANGELES: Disney-Marvel’s Black Panther is heading for a super-heroic $218 million debut over the four-day President’s Day weekend.
That number means that Black Panther, starring Chadwick Boseman and directed by Ryan Coogler, has doubled its original tracking in less than a month. The film, which carries an estimated $200 million production cost, had been tracking to bring in between an impressive $100 and $120 million when first estimates emerged on January 25.
Since then, Black Panther has become a must-see movie for many moviegoers, making it the second-largest preview gross for a Marvel film.
The film’s estimated three-day gross of $192 million is the highest debut ever for a February film and the fifth highest of all time.
Black Panther has demolished the record for the largest Presidents Day weekend, blowing past 2016’s Deadpool.
”This is proof that the big screen experience may arguably be the most powerful platform of change in our society,“ said Paul Dergarabedian,” senior media analyst. “The emotional, communal, immersive and bigger than life theatrical experience has an impact that virtually no other medium can match.”
Boseman portrays King T‘Challa, ruler of Wakanda, a technologically advanced society, who conflicts with Michael B. Jordan’s Eric Killmonger, who intends to take over the throne. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong‘o, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya also star. It’s received an A+ CinemaScore, the only Marvel film to have done so besides 2012’s The Avengers.
