T'Challa rules: 'Black Panther' smashes box-office records
All hail the king: Marvel film is on track for a $218 million debut, destroying the previous record for a February opening.
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"Black Panther" rules at the box office.
All hail the king: Marvel's "Black Panther" ruled the box office over the Presidents' Day weekend, Walt Disney Co. estimates showed Sunday, shattering records and earning the second biggest opening weekend for a Marvel Studios film, trailing only 2012's "The Avengers."
The film, which stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther, collected $192 million in ticket sales over the weekend, Disney estimates, for the fifth-largest film opening weekend ever and the highest-grossing February opening weekend ever, beating the $132 mark set by "Deadpool" in 2016. Estimates show it's on track for a $218 million four-day holiday weekend.
The only four films to have opened higher are some major names: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," ''Star Wars: The Last Jedi," ''Jurassic World" and "The Avengers."
The film has demolished other records as well. It's the most-tweeted-about movie of the year so far, Twitter announced last week. It's also the fourth-biggest pre-sale movie in the history of ticket site Fandango, trailing only the last three Star Wars movies.
And numbers may continue to climb: Fandango reports that 61 percent of the "Black Panther" moviegoers it surveyed are considering a second viewing.
