And the reign of King T’Challa continues. If you thought that Marvel’s Black Panther would be one-and-done after breaking box office records with its debut 10 days ago, you were clearly a bit delusional. As predicted, the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ran roughshod over the competition in its second weekend, setting some brand new records along the way.
Well, actually it started before the weekend, as Black Panther posted the biggest first week earning of any MCU film thus far. Before it even hit the buzz of Friday and the weekend, its 7-day domestic total was peaking at $292 million which even outstripped the $270 million previous record-holder The Avengers managed to put together in 2012. On the international front, it made another $228 million in the same period, which means the film went into its second weekend already over the half-billion dollars mark.
Said second weekend was one for the record books as well as Black Panther earned a massive $108 million domestically, for the second biggest second weekend in US history behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $149 million. Along the way it also became the second fastest film ever to reach $400 million domestically, only bested by 2015’s Jurassic World. Black Panther also joins a very elite club as only three other movies – Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($149 million), Jurassic World ($106 million) and The Avengers ($103 million) – has ever earned more than $100 million in their sophomore showings in the US.
With another $83 million added from 55 international markets over the weekend – and this is without the upcoming wide releases in China, Japan and Russia (with the latter happening today) – Black Panther is currently sitting on a whopping $704 million after just 10 days. That already makes it the fifth biggest domestic MCU film of all time and the tenth worldwide. And for those of you Marvel vs DC fanboys keeping score at home – because I know you’re out there – Justice League only made $658 million in its entire theatrical run.
Contrary to popular belief, there were actually some other movies on the charts as well, as R-rated comedy Game Night, Alex Garland’s mind-bending sci-fi Annihilation, and low-budget teen fantasy romance Every Day all opened as well. The Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams-led Game Night came off the best of the lot in second place as it earned $16.6 million and actually posted the second highest per-theatre average in the top 10 behind Black Panther.
With Sony’s Peter Rabbit outperforming predictions and managing to only drop 28%, it meant Annihilation had to settle for fourth place with $11 million. The film has been drawing an incredible amount of critical praise and at this point may be set to be a big awards contender closer to the end of the year.
You would have to skip over four holdovers from last week, all just moved down accordingly (with Fifty Shades Freed being the most notable of the bunch having dropped a sizable 60% in its third week), to find Every Day. Despite its ninth place opening, the fantasy romance is off to a solid start with $3.1 million as it was made for just $5 million. This is especially good as this is the first theatrical release for the relaunched Orion Pictures, once one of the biggest studios in Hollywood before it was claimed by bankruptcy in the 1990s.
Let’s see what the rest of the US box office chart looks like:
| No. | Movie Name | Weekend gross | Percentage change | US Domestic gross | Worldwide gross | Last Week's Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Panther | $108 million | -46% | $400 million | $704 million | 1st |
| 2 | Game Night | $16.6 million | NE | $16.6 million | $21.8 million | NE |
| 3 | Peter Rabbit | $12.5 million | -28% | $71.2 million | $71.9 million | 2nd |
| 4 | Annihilation | $11 million | NE | $11 million | $11 million | NE |
| 5 | Fifty Shades Freed | $6.9 million | -60% | $89.5 million | $320.3 million | 3rd |
| 6 | Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle | $5.6 million | -28% | $387.2 million | $919.9 million | 4th |
| 7 | The 15:17 to Paris | $3.6 million | -52% | $32.2million | $45.1 million | 5th |
| 8 | The Greatest Showman | $3.4 million | -32% | $160.7 million | $361.2 million | 6th |
| 9 | Every Day | $3.1 million | NE | $3.1 million | $3.1 million | NE |
| 10 | Early Man | $1.7 million | -46% | $6.7 million | $6.7 million | 7th |
NE = New Entry
Last Updated: February 26, 2018
