RE: ‘Ready to Reckon With the Colonizing World, Daring It to Try’ — What the ‘Black Panther’ Film Means to Trinidad & Tobago
Box Office: Marvel's 'Black Panther' Tops $800M Worldwide Today
Black Panther earned $6.6 million on its 14th-day of domestic theatrical release, bringing its North American box office total to just under $435.4m. That puts it above E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial ($435.1m, counting reissues) and just below Shrek 2 ($441m in 2004) among unadjusted domestic champions. By the way, the Ryan Coogler film’s 14-day total is third on the all-time list, behind only The Force Awakens ($652m), The Last Jedi ($465m) and Jurassic World ($446m).
As noted previously, Black Panther didn’t get the Christmas-to-New Years’ boost that The Last Jedi did, when the Star Wars sequel earned more in its second Mon-Thurs frame than in its first. So even if it throws down a $60m+ third weekend and ends its 17th day just over/under $500m domestic, it will still trail The Force Awakens ($742m), The Last Jedi ($517m) and possibly Jurassic World ($500m).
I know, the horror! Black Panther might have to settle for a domestic figure below $620 million. Maybe Disney can right the ship by swapping out Chadwick Boseman for Jai Courtney. I’m sorry, that was mean to both parties. Besides, there is reason to argue that the Ryan Coogler-directed superhero flick is just as likely to hit $660m domestic as $615m at this juncture.
But this should also highlight just how hard, even under the best circumstances and with inflation, 3D bumps and PLF upcharges, it can be to get to the once-fabled $700 million mark. You’ll notice that The Force Awakens is so far ahead of its relative peers that it’s not even funny. Again, I will argue that said Star Wars story was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. At the very least, the potential for $650m+ domestic totals is now mitigated by the sheer amount of big-scale product that Walt Disney puts into the marketplace.
Speculative question, but would The Force Awakens have ended up closer to $750 million than $950m had The Good Dinosaur been better received? And if the answer is yes, then we should note as much when we discuss the potential fortunes of Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars 9, Frozen 2. And yeah, that’s a big part of why Disney just moved Avengers: Infinity War to late April worldwide, to give Solo more space to itself. But what does it say that the biggest obstacle for Walt Disney’s Black Panther for the next two weeks is going to be Walt Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time?
Disney rules the franchise roost, but they are getting to a point where they are their own biggest competition. Again, if the films are well-received and profits are made, then this is more about market share domination than making sure each big movie grosses as much as possible. And since Black Panther will surely cross the $800 million worldwide barrier today, this is all mostly trivia and broader contextual analysis anyway. Yes, Black Panther sits with $780.3m worldwide as of yesterday, meaning its weekend boost should be enough today (it may well make another $15m-$20m in North America alone) to push it well past $800m on this third Friday of release.
So yeah, for what it’s worth, it’s going to top Wonder Woman ($821 million in 2017) and Spider-Man ($821m in 2002) today or tomorrow, with a decent shot at ending the weekend just over/under $900m worldwide. If it gets past Batman v Superman ($873m in 2016) Spider-Man 3 ($890m in 2007) by Sunday, it’ll end the third weekend as the seventh-biggest superhero movie ever behind only The Dark Knight ($1 billion in 2008), The Dark Knight Rises ($1.1b in 2012), Captain America: Civil War ($1.1b in 2016), Iron Man 3 ($1.2b in 2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.4b in 2015) and The Avengers ($1.5b in 2012).
"Black Panther" follows T'Challa 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