Well, it’s now official: Black Panther is a monster hit. Not that we had any doubt it would be, mind you. Especially not after those projections which placed the pic ahead of The Avengers for its opening weekend.
Of course, it didn’t quite manage to beat Joss Whedon’s 2012 effort in the end, but it did come awfully close. As was reported earlier today, Black Panther clawed its way to a monstrous $201.8 million opening weekend. For the record, The Avengers did $207 million, but again, that was 6 years ago. And, when adjusted for inflation, that number actually becomes quite bigger – $220.27 million.
In fact, IGN recently took a look at how T’Challa’s first standalone outing compares to the top 5 MCU openings of all-time, once you factor in inflation, and here’s how things shake out.
- The Avengers – $220.27 million
- Black Panther – $201.8 million
- Avengers: Age of Ultron – $196.75 million
- Iron Man 3 – $182.25 million
- Captain America: Civil War – $181.97 million
So, again, it didn’t dethrone The Avengers, but a second place finish is tremendously impressive, especially when you look at the three films that lie beneath it. Two of them are threequels featuring A-list heroes and the other, Age of Ultron, is the sequel to one of the biggest movies of all-time.
In other words, T’Challa is in the company of greatness here and to see the pic beat out all other MCU efforts but one on its opening weekend just goes to show how much Black Panther is resonating with people. Not to mention how well executed and crafted it is, with tremendous performances from the entire cast and outstanding direction from Ryan Coogler.
Simply put, it’s another home run for Marvel Studios – who can seemingly do no wrong – and has us extremely optimistic about the future of not only the titular hero, but the franchise as a whole. Long live the king!