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Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” has already entered the record books after a single night in U.S. theaters.
The first solo movie featuring Marvel’s African avenger took in an estimated $25.2 million on Thursday. That is nearly double the $12.7 million record for a February preview night set in 2016 by Twentieth Century Fox’s R-rated comic book flick “Deadpool.”
Within the Marvel cinematic universe, only “Avengers: Age of Ultron” earned more in Thursday night previews.
“Black Panther” is currently tracking for a massive $165 million U.S. opening over the Presidents Day weekend, up from a previous estimate of $150 million a week ago.
The movie is the 18th installment in Marvel’s series of interconnected superhero films, but it has injected fresh energy into the franchise.
Directed by African-American filmmaker Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther” is the first Marvel film to feature a predominantly black cast and a story steeped in African culture. It stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, the leader and titular protector of the fictional nation Wakanda.
The film is generating tremendous buzz on social media and doing a brisk trade in ticket pre-sales. “Black Panther” is also the best-reviewed film of all the movies released by Disney-owned Marvel, boasting a 97 percent “Fresh” score on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Boxoffice.com is currently forecasting the movie will haul in $190 million to $215 million over the long weekend. The website projects it will earn $178 million over three days.
That would be enough to put it in the upper range of the top 10 highest grossing openings for a superhero movie. At that level, Black Panther would top heavyweights such as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man and take aim at the best-ever debut for a superhero movie focused on a solo character.
