Marvel Studios’ latest film, Black Panther, officially hit theaters Thursday night and is on track to outpace Captain America: Civil War, having just edged out the superhero showdown film its opening day.
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The Chadwick Boseman-led movie is looking at a massive $185 million opening over the first three days, with the film expected to cross the $200 million mark come Monday, possibly bringing the flick up to $210 million-plus after the holiday weekend. For comparisons sake, Captain America: Civil War, which marked the cinematic debut of Black Panther, opened to an impressive $179 million back in 2016. The official numbers from Disney reveal the film opened to $75.8 million on Friday — including the $25.2 million from Thursday previews. Should the estimates hold, the film will easily hit $185-$190 million by Sunday’s end, giving it the third highest opening of any film set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the first two Avengers films.
As it stands, the film is currently riding high on a A+ CinemaScore and a solid 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And the word of mouth seems to only be helping the film as estimates continue to rise for Black Panther. Originally thought to open between $80-$100 million stateside, the film could now easily surpass the lifetime domestic hauls of Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor in a matter of just three days. Even more impressive is the fact that the film has already amassed $81.5 million internationally, with plenty of markets — including China and Japan — yet to open.
A sequel has yet to be officially announced, although Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige has already confirmed he wants director Ryan Coogler to return to helm a potential sequel.
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Now in theaters, Black Panther is directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa /Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan as N’Jadaka /Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Forest Whitaker as Zuri and Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue.
(via ScreenRant)