‘Black Panther’ Poised To Pounce On B.O.: Advance Ticket Sales Beating ‘Captain America: Civil War’

He hasn’t even hit tracking yet, but Black Panther from Disney/Marvel is already a hot ticket out of the gate. After tickets went on sale Monday night, Black Panther is already outstripping Captain America: Civil War as Fandango’s best-selling MCU title in the first 24 hours of presales. Captain America: Civil War kicked off the opening of summer 2016 during the first weekend of May with $179M.

Now there’s never a direct correlation between great advance ticket sales and anticipated weekend box office, however, we’re talking about a Marvel release here and presales are part of the barometer for determining opening weekends. Black Panther opens on Feb. 16, which is part of the four-day President’s Day holiday weekend and adjacent to Valentine’s Day which falls on a Wednesday this year.

Industry estimates do not believe at this point in time that Black Panther will emulate Civil War‘s opening despite the strong. If that’s the case, Black Panther would not only  become the highest opening of all-time for a February release, besting Fox/Marvel’s R-rated Deadpool ($132.4M), but the best opening before summer. Currently, non-Disney estimates before tracking believe Black Panther will post a $80M-$85M start with a possible shot at $100M-plus.

In a recent Fandango survey of more than 8K moviegoers, Black Panther was voted as one of the year’s top two most anticipated movies, ranking second only to Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War which opens on May 4. Panther star Chadwick Boseman was also voted by the fans as the most anticipated comic book hero in a standalone movie, while co-stars Danai Gurira & Winston Duke were picked among the rising stars of 2018, and Michael B. Jordan as one of 2018’s most anticipated screen villains. Creed director Ryan Coogler directed and co-wrote Black Panther.