Every Record 'Black Panther' Has Broken (So Far)

Image via Marvel

Anticipation for Black Panther was high. How high? So high that according to movie ticket retailer Fandango no other film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe had sold more presale tickets in 24 hours than Black Panther did in January, a full month before it hit theaters. "It’s one of the biggest and most anticipated movies to ever open in the month of February," said Fandango editor Erik Davis."

This record was eventually beaten by Avengers: Infinity War, which isn't surprising given the magnitude of what Infinity War means for the MCU overall.

With a monstrous President's Day weekend haul of $242.1 million at the box office, Black Panther's success gave director Ryan Coogler the record for the largest opening weekend for a film by a black director, dethroning F. Gary Gray. Coogler more than doubled the intake of Gray's 2017 film The Fate of the Furious, which pulled in an impressive $98 million during its opening weekend.

For those keeping score, Black Panther's opening weekend box office numbers meant it had the fifth-largest opening weekend box office of all time, based on its three-day gross of $202 million. That put it behind monsters like The Avengers and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but based on this being a film with a predominately black cast, the myth of black-led films not being able to murder the box office could be a thing of the past.

While Black Panther is arguably a top 5 top 3 MCU film, one thing you can't deny is that Black Panther's first week in theaters was monumental. In 2012, The Avengers earned $300 million during its first nine days at the cinema; Black Panther hit that same mark in eight days. Add in the international totals, and Black Panther raked in $520 million during its first week. 

Not only did Black Panther gift Ryan Coogler with the largest opening weekend for a black director, but the film also became the highest-grossing film with a predominately black cast. It beat classics like Bad Boys and Coming to America (which pulled in $288.8 million during its opening weekend in 1988), but according to Forbes, Black Panther succeeded where other films with predominately black casts failed: overseas. Films like Get Out and Straight Outta Compton had paltry returns when the films hit the international market, which isn't that surprising.

Maybe this is the beginning of a new trend?

Marvel dropping Black Panther with its beautifully BLACK cast during Black History Month? It was a shoe-in to do numbers on that alone, but as is the case, no one was expecting it to do THIS well. Black Panther's box office earnings destroyed the records Deadpool shattered in 2016, giving it the crown as the biggest opening in the month of February, ever.

Say what you will about the validity of Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer when it comes to whether you'll enjoy a movie or not, but the fact that critics loved this superhero film is nothing to sneeze at. With a 97 percent "FRESH" rating, Black Panther beat the 94 percent ratings of both Iron Man and The Dark Knight, as well as recent standouts like Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Logan, all of which hit over 90 percent.

The thing is, we said "tied." Pixar's The Incredibles is technically a superhero film, and it does sit at 97 percent on the Tomatometer as well (#justsaying). Black Panther also earned an A+ CinemaScore, tying The Avengers.

So far, no film has been able to test Black Panther when it comes to vying for the No. 1 spot at the box office. A Wrinkle In Time tried but ended up opening at No. 2. Tomb Raider met the same fate during its opening weekend. Black Panther's on a streak, one that's slowly looking to eclipse Avatar. In 2009, Avatar spent seven consecutive weeks occupying the No. 1 spot at the box office, beating Titanic's insane 15 weekends in 1997/8. 

Black Panther 's sitting at five consecutive weekends on top, but it might meet some opposition: Pacific Rim Uprising (starring John Boyega) opens on March 23, and Steven Spielberg's long-awaited Ready Player One hits theaters March 29. While it isn't guaranteed, one of those films could give Black Panther a run, although even if one does dethrone Wakanda's king, Panther's done more than enough to etch its name in the record books.

While Pacific Rim Uprising ultimately dethroned Black Panther from the No. 1 spot during its opening weekend, T'Challa and company never stopped breaking records. That weekend, Black Panther brought its domestic box office earnings total to $630.9 million, which surpassed the $623.4 million domestic haul of 2012's The Avengers. That also meant that Black Panther became one of seven movies to exceed more than $600 million made at the box office in the United States.

Among its seven(!) Oscar nominations, Black Panther was nominated for Best Picture for the 2019 Oscars, making it the first superhero film to receive this honor. Take your debates on if Black Panther is a better film than The Dark Knight or other classic superhero movies to Twitter; this is a huge moment for the superhero genre, and well-deserved.