‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ takes the box-office throne, breaks November record
It might have been the movie that brought the word “Black Panther” to every American in the country, but this weekend’s superhero blockbuster, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” is the one to beat as it grossed $116 million over its first three days at the box office.
The movie, based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first ever live-action feature film, debuted with a robust $8 million Friday, and then on Friday, turned the box office upside down with a $58.4 million weekend. Its Sunday was a bigger $63.1 million gross that made it the largest Saturday of any film — by over 11 percent — in box office history.
To put the weekend in context, it wasn’t just the “Black Panther” that made history, it was the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole.
It is the first time that an MCU movie has broken the $100 million mark in domestic box office over the initial three days after its wide release without the first film grossing more than $100 million.
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The movie, which is being released on Friday, broke the November box office record set during the same weekend by “Jurassic World,” which earned $122 million over the weekend.
“It’s a really good box-office record,” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said Friday at a press conference, noting that it is not a record that can be broken, only a record that can be surpassed, which is something he thinks his studio can accomplish.
“We’re very proud that this is the first time in 10 years. It’s something that we will be able to say next time around.”
It is a record that also places Wakanda-centered movies in a category with “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which placed third at the North American box office in 2015, as well as 2014’s “Thor.”
“With the film, we wanted to push the boundaries in cinema storytelling and reach a new audience,” Feige said. “The film features a lot of African-American characters, I wanted to say a lot to them.”
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