Black Panther's box office numbers are still going strong in the film's third weekend. The highly praised Marvel film topped new action releases Red Sparrow and Death Wish to remain at No. 1.
The film made an estimated $16.5 million on Friday and $30.4 million on Saturday, according to Deadline. The outlet also notes that Black Panther will surpass $500 million in domestic gross by the end of Sunday, surpassing Avengers: Age of Ultron's $459 million and making it the second-biggest Marvel release just behind The Avengers ($623 million).
Black Panther's achievements dwarfs its current box office competitors. Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow raked in $6 million domestically on Friday with $17 million projected this weekend. The film cost roughly $69 million (including Lawrence’s estimated $15-20 million salary) to make and currently has a 51 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Death Wish—a remake of the classic Charles Bronson film starring legacy action hero Bruce Willis—brought in $4.2 million on Friday and landed a paltry Rotten Tomatoes score of 15 percent.
With its performance in the box office this weekend (projected at $62.6 million), Black Panther is on track to snag the third-best third weekend ever at the domestic box office next to Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($90.2 million) and Avatar ($68.5 million). Experts predict that worldwide, the film is not far from hitting the $1 billion mark.
