Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in development.
The superhero sequel opened with a whopping $180 million at the domestic box office to chase the biggest November opening of all time and the second biggest launch of 2022 so far behind fellow Marvel Studios pic Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (187 .4 million dollars ). And it easily took the weekend crown from DC superhero Black Adam, now in its fourth weekend.
Overseas, the Marvel and Disney blockbuster debuted to $150 million for a worldwide start of $330 million (as much as DC’s Black Adam earned in its first three weeks).
While Wakanda Forever didn’t match the $202 million domestic debut of Coogler’s Black Panther in 2018, it’s still doing terrific business and ranks No. 13 on the all-time list of domestic releases (releases from Disney’s account for all but from one 13), according to Comscore. The sequel’s arrival at the marquee could not have been more welcome after a rough fall for theater owners.
Heading into the weekend, Wakanda Forever was set to debut in the $175 million range.
Black Panther 2 , playing in 4,396 theaters domestically, took in $84 million on Friday alone, one of the biggest opening days of all time and all but out-titled Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Age of Ultron for No. 9 of the list, not adjusted for inflation. Friday’s collection included $28 million in Thursday night previews (Friday was Veterans Day).
Coogler’s film received an A CinemaScore from audiences and strong outings on PostTrak. (One difference: the first Black Panther earned a coveted A+). It played to an ethnically diverse audience, led by Black moviegoers (34 percent), according to PostTrak. It also performed more evenly in terms of gender than most superhero films, with women making up 45 percent of the audience.
In 2018, Black Panther was the first Hollywood studio to feature a predominantly black cast and became a cultural phenomenon on its way to earning more than $1.34 billion at the global box office.
The sequel suffered tragedy when Chadwick Boseman, who played the title role of T’Challa/Black Panther in the 2018 film, died of colon cancer in August 2020. The cast of Wakanda Forever includes Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’ o, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke , Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba and Martin Freeman, as well as Marvel newcomer Tenoch Huerta as Namor and Dominique Thorne as hero Riri Williams.
“It is an excellent result. The first film represented such a significant cultural milestone that its performance would have been difficult to follow even under normal circumstances,” says box office analyst Shawn Robbins. “This performance from a sequel nearly five years later speaks to the trust audiences have in Ryan Coogler, Marvel and the entire creative team to respectfully continue the story following the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman. It’s a chance for everyone to say goodbye together as the franchise moves forward with his legacy at the center.”
Among superhero movies released during the pandemic, Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home opened with $260.1 million in December 2021. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness followed in May with $187.4 million , while Thor: Love and Thunder earned $144.2 million in July. In March 2022, DC and Warner Bros.’ Batman soared to $134 million upon release. Most recently, DC’s Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson in his first live-action superhero role, opened to $67 million domestically.
This weekend’s other high-profile opening is Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical and Oscar-nominated The Fabelmans , which is slowly rolling out on the platform, as a feature film does, in order to build word of mouth.
The Universal and Amblin Entertainment film, which opens in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, earned a strong $40,000 location average, one of the best of the year behind Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin . Fabelmans received an A CinemaScore and has a 95 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
More to come.
November 12, 10:30 am Updated with revised international numbers.
title: “Sequel Earns 180M Launch The Hollywood Reporter "
ShowToc: true
date: “2022-12-24”
author: “Maria Nasser”
Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in development.
The superhero sequel opened with a whopping $180 million at the domestic box office to chase the biggest November opening of all time and the second biggest launch of 2022 so far behind fellow Marvel Studios pic Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (187 .4 million dollars ). And it easily took the weekend crown from DC superhero Black Adam, now in its fourth weekend.
Overseas, the Marvel and Disney blockbuster debuted to $150 million for a worldwide start of $330 million (as much as DC’s Black Adam earned in its first three weeks). Europe was strong overall, led by the UK ($15 million) followed by France ($13.7 million). Among all markets, Mexico ranked third with $12.8 million, followed by South Korea ($8.9 million) and Brazil ($7.1 million). Wakanda Forever also opened to the highest opening in history in Nigeria, where the film’s African premiere took place.
While Wakanda Forever didn’t match the $202 million domestic debut of Coogler’s Black Panther in 2018, it’s still doing terrific business and ranks No. 13 on the all-time list of domestic releases (releases from Disney and Marvel now they account for all but one in 13), according to Comscore. The sequel’s arrival at the marquee could not have been more welcome after a rough fall for theater owners.
Heading into the weekend, Wakanda Forever was set to debut in the $175 million range. Until now, November’s biggest opening belonged to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158 million).
Black Panther 2 , playing in 4,396 theaters domestically, took in $84 million on Friday alone, one of the biggest opening days of all time and all but out-titled Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Age of Ultron for No. 9 of the list, not adjusted for inflation. Friday’s collection included $28 million in Thursday night previews (Friday was Veterans Day).
Coogler’s film received an A CinemaScore from audiences and strong outings on PostTrak. (One difference: the first Black Panther earned a coveted A+). It played to an ethnically diverse audience, led by black moviegoers (34 percent) and followed by Caucasians (31 percent), Latinos (21 percent) and Asian/Other (14 percent), according to PostTrak. It also performed more evenly in terms of gender than most superhero films, with women making up 45 percent of the audience.
In 2018, Black Panther was the first Hollywood studio to feature a predominantly black cast and became a cultural phenomenon on its way to earning more than $1.34 billion at the global box office.
The sequel suffered tragedy when Chadwick Boseman, who played the title role of T’Challa/Black Panther in the 2018 film, died of colon cancer in August 2020. The cast of Wakanda Forever includes Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’ o, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke , Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba and Martin Freeman, as well as Marvel newcomer Tenoch Huerta as Namor and Dominique Thorne as hero Riri Williams.
Wakanda Forever opened less than 11 percent behind the 2018 film.
“It is an excellent result. The first film represented such a significant cultural milestone that its performance would have been difficult to follow even under normal circumstances,” says box office analyst Shawn Robbins. “This performance from a sequel nearly five years later speaks to the trust audiences have in Ryan Coogler, Marvel and the entire creative team to respectfully continue the story following the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman. It’s a chance for everyone to say goodbye together as the franchise moves forward with his legacy at the center.”
Among superhero movies released during the pandemic, Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home opened with $260.1 million in December 2021. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness followed in May with $187.4 million , while Thor: Love and Thunder earned $144.2 million in July. In March 2022, DC and Warner Bros.’ Batman soared to $134 million upon release. Most recently, DC’s Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson in his first live-action superhero role, opened to $67 million domestically.
This weekend’s other high-profile opening is Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical and Oscar-nominated The Fabelmans , which is slowly rolling out on the platform, as a feature film does, in order to build word of mouth.
The Universal and Amblin Entertainment film, which opens in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, earned a strong $40,000 location average, one of the best of the year behind Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin . Fabelmans received an A CinemaScore and has a 95 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Back in the top 10 chart, Black Adam — predictably — took a big hit as Black Panther opened. The Dwayne Johnson pic took second place with $8.6 million for a domestic tally of $151.1 million. Overseas, it cleared $200 million to finish Sunday with a worldwide total of $352.2 million.
Universal’s romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise continued to hold up well, falling only 29 percent to $6.1 million for a $56.5 million domestic cume and $150 million worldwide.
Sony’s family pic Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile fell just 5 percent to $3.2 million for a muted domestic tally of $40.8 million and $75.6 million worldwide.
Paramount’s horror hit Smile rounded out the top five in North America with $2.3 million on its way to $210 million worldwide.
Among the Oscar contenders, Banshees took No. 7 with $1.7 million from 960 locations for a domestic total of $5.6 million.
MGM and UAR’s Till , which comes in at No. 9, saw its domestic total reach $8 million over the weekend.
November 12, 10:30 am Updated with revised international numbers.
