Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ Is Now The Highest Grossing Superhero Movie Ever
Marvel’sBlack Pantherhas become even more of a box office giant than any of the industry’s wildest predictions and expectations. The film has broken record after record since hitting theaters on February 16, and now it has a new crowning achievement.
Even thoughBlack Pantherwon’t be at the top of the box office for six weekends in a row, the money raked in this weekend has sent the movie past $624 million on the domestic charts. That meansBlack Pantherhas officially surpassedThe Avengerstotal gross of $623.4 million in 2012 and it’s now the highest grossing superhero movie ever in the United States.
The box office update comes fromThe Hollywood Reporter. The trade also notes thatBlack Pantheris doing huge business globally. As of now the movie has earned a little more than $1.2 billion worldwide, but by the end of the weekend, it will pass upIron Man 3to become the third biggest comic book adaptation. The only two movies ahead of it are The Avengers with $1.5 billion followed byAvengers: Age of Ultronat $1.4 billion.
As of now it doesn’t look likeBlack Pantherhas enough momentum to surpass both assemblies of The Avengers at the global box office, but the amount of money the movie has pulled in is still impressive as hell. This should prove unequivocally that Hollywood can open up movies with predominantly non-white talent and still be succcessful at the box office.
However,Black Panthermay not enjoy this spot at the top of the superhero movie charts for very long. Let’s not forget thatAvengers: Infinity Waris just around the corner. And considering this is the first part of the culmination of the first 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that’s going to be quite the box office event. When tickets went on sale recently, the filmbroke the ticket presales recordpreviously set byBlack Pantherin just six hours.
Again though, the success ofBlack Panthercan’t be marginalized. This was a huge victory for Marvel and diversity on the big screen. Hopefully this is just the beginning of more blockbusters featuring diverse casts that take the box office by storm. At the very least, we know it’s just the beginning for Black Panther because asequel is already in the works, and Ryan Cooglerwill likely return to directas well.
