Black Panther is Marvel’s third-highest grossing movie release at the U.S. box office.
The Marvel-Disney superhero movie follows T’Challa/ Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) as he returns home as king of Wakanda only to find his sovereignty challenged by his long-time adversary Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan).
Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther also stars Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis, and has raked in a staggering $411.7 million (£296 million) domestically since it was released in cinemas on 16 February (18).
The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron are now ranked as the highest-grossing Marvel movie releases, with Black Panther landing in third place. Internationally, the film has made $316.2 million (£227 million).
In addition, Black Panther has given Imax Corp. a boost with moviegoers flocking to see it on the big screen. On Tuesday (27Feb18), Imax chief executive officer Richard Gelfond reported that it had achieved a record viewership for February.
“I am pleased to say that 2018 is off to a solid start,” he said, according to Variety. “We recently achieved record box office in February, led by Black Panther, which did $35 million (£25 million) in Imax box office over the four-day opening weekend.”
Black Panther is now projected to have a third massive weekend over 3-4 March, but will compete with Jennifer Lawrence’s spy thriller Red Sparrow and Bruce Willis’ action-thriller Death Wish.
And actress Angela Bassett, who portrays Ramonda, Queen Mother of Wakanda, has shared that she’s thrilled by the positive feedback the movie has garnered and teased that a possible follow-up is in the works.
“We didn’t think we’d change history,” she told The Root at the American Black Film Festival Honors on Sunday. “But to this degree and with this urgency, with this speed and this love and good feeling, we’re humbled.”
