Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever rose to the top of the domestic box office in its opening weekend, dethroning Warner Bros. and DC's Black Adam.
As reported by Variety, the Black Panther sequel earned $180 million in its first weekend in theaters, surpassing a record for November openings originally set by 2013's Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158 million). Overall, Wakanda Forever earned $330 million worldwide, with $150 million of that number accumulated from across 55 international markets.
Comparatively, Black Adam has held the top box office spot since its debut, which earned $67 million USD in its domestic debut, surpassing projections that the film would reach $62 million after it opened across 4,350 North American theaters.
Wakanda Forever's domestic earnings for its opening weekends are in line with previous projections that the sequel would earn between $175 million and $185 million. Not taking into account Thursday previews, Wakanda Forever earned $56 million on its opening night. Comparatively, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness pulled $54.7 million on its opening night. This placed Wakanda Forever on track for the second-best opening weekend box office of 2022.
Black Panther Crowned #1 at the Box Office
Similarly, box office analysts estimated that Wakanda Forever earned a total of $84 million on its opening night (Thursday previews included) which made the sequel the tenth-highest opening day of all time. This is in line with previous box office projections made about the film prior to its release which estimated it would earn anywhere between $175 million to $200 million in its first domestic weekend. This would make it just under the earnings of the first Black Panther which accumulated $202M in its first weekend.
Wakanda Forever made a strong start at the box office with $28 million in Thursday previews, quickly outpacing the $25.5 million earned by the first Black Panther movie in 2018. At the time of writing, Wakanda Forever is the third-biggest preview night of the year, with fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe films Multiverse of Madness in first with $36 million and Thor: Love and Thunder in second with $29 million.
Wakanda Forever began filming in Atlanta, GA on June 29, 2021, but production has paused several times since then due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The film serves as a sequel to 2018's Black Panther, which starred the late Chadwick Boseman as King T'Challa/Black Panther. Wakanda Forever's plot was restructured following Boseman's death in 2020. Wakanda Forever sees Angela Bassett reprise her role as Queen Ramonda, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Winston Duke as M'Baku, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross. The film also stars Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livanalli.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now in theaters.
Source: Variety