Marvel and Disney’s Black Panther earned an outstanding 97% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes (282 fresh reviews and only nine rotten) and an A+ average score from audiences, according to Cinemascore. Both scores are rare for superhero films, but director Ryan Coogler and his Black Panther cast had many more reasons to celebrate over the film’s opening weekend. Early three-day weekend estimates have the film grossing $192 million domestically, and the four-day Presidents Day holiday numbers are expected to top $218 million.
Among the records Black Panther set were the highest opening box office take for an African-American director, the biggest February domestic opening in history, and the biggest President’s Day weekend opening. The 2018 superhero film also moved into second place on the Marvel opening weekend box office chart, with only The Avengers posting larger opening weekend numbers. Overall, Black Panther now holds fifth place on the biggest domestic opening weekend chart.
Black Panther trounced the weekend’s other new releases – Early Man and Samson – and should hold off all other competition for a couple of weeks. Competition next weekend will come from the sci-fi action film Annihilation, the comedy Game Night, and the romantic drama Every Day.
Box Office Top 10: February 16-18, 2018
- Black Panther – $192,023,000
- Peter Rabbit – $17,250,000
- Fifty Shades Freed – $16,940,000
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – $7,945,000
- The 15:17 to Paris – $7,685,000
- Early Man – $3,150,000
- Maze Runner: The Death Cure – $2,525,000
- Winchester – $2,230,000
- Samson – $1,972,000
The Black Panther Plot: Black Panther follows T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) who, after the events of Captain America: Civil War, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to take his place as King. However, when an old enemy reappears on the radar, T’Challa’s mettle as King and Black Panther is tested when he is drawn into a conflict that puts the entire fate of Wakanda and the world at risk.
