Marvel’s Black Panther is on pace to score a four-day President’s Day weekend box office total fit for a king. Considering the movie’s full-on cultural event status and sparkling reviews, this forecast shouldn’t come as too big of a shock.
Variety reports Black Panther is on track to shatter the record held by previous President’s Day weekend opening champ Deadpool. Black Panther is projected to earn $210 million from 4,020 North American locations, topping Deadpool‘s 2016 $152 million mark. Previous estimates for how Black Panther would do financially have been continuously bumped up with predictions clearly underestimating the might of a Ryan Coogler Marvel film with a spectacular cast and something different to offer audiences than your standard MCU affair. It doesn’t hurt that fans have seen their lofty expectations exceeded by the superhero movie.
As is customary, we’ll have the official box office totals when they arrive, but it’s reasonably safe to say Black Panther earns the holiday weekend’s box office crown. The surprisingly controversial Peter Rabbit cinematic offering is tracking to earn the silver medal with an estimated $22 million opening week bow. Meanwhile, Fifty Shades Freed is attracting about $18 million of your mom’s BDSM thriller dollars for a likely third-place finish.
Odds are, Black Panther made up 100% of the weekend box office total in Wakanda.
(Via Variety)