The King of Wakanda ruled the box-office across almost all the globe this weekend as official estimates for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther see it taking in $192 million domestically and $169 million internationally through Sunday – bringing its first weekend global debut to $361 million.
When you add in the domestic estimates for the President’s Day holiday on Monday in the United States, that global figure rises to a stunning $218 million domestic and $387 million worldwide. The numbers coming in aren’t just beating expectations, they’re far exceeding them thanks to the movie bringing out audiences far beyond just the Marvel faithful.
Helping is a diverse audience with attendees running at 37% African-American, 35% Caucasian and 18% Hispanic in the United States – comparatively the average Marvel film gets a 15% African-American audience on opening weekend. As previously reported, the film is only one of two Marvel Studios films to earn a coveted A+ CinemaScore from audiences (the other being the first The Avengers).
It wasn’t just Black Panther making headlines. The Chinese box-office, which has been on a downturn for much of the past year, suddenly exploded with five local films opening to a staggering $543 million for the start of the Chinese New Year holidays – more than double the same amounts in the equivalent weekends in 2016 and 2017.
Raman Hui’s family-friendly Monster Hunt 2 dominated with a whopping $190 million from within the country. Chase comedy Detective Chinatown 2 earned $154 million in the Friday-Sunday period, The Monkey King 3: Kingdom of Women earned $80 million, action film Operation Red Sea nabbed $70.3 million, and the animated Boonie Bears made $41 million.
