UPDATED, Friday: Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther rang up $27.6 million around the world yesterday, with its $14.3M domestic take making it the best Thursday ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title, eclipsing Marvel’s The Avengers ($12.4M). All in, T’Challa counts $520.1M worldwide, and many in the industry continue to buzz that the Marvel pic has a shot at hitting $1 billion by the time the Ryan Coogler-directed movie ends its run.
Today, Black Panther will be the fastest-grossing MCU title to $300M stateside at eight days, beating Avengers’ nine-day run to that benchmark.
Earlier this week, many saw Black Panther ringing up around $104M stateside in weekend 2. However, $92M is looking more like that around Friday midday, which is still marvelous for Marvel in February. But that could very well swell. Overseas, some aggressive estimates are as high as $90M, but the reality of the situation is that the Chinese New Year is over and a drop is expected in such markets as Taiwan and Hong Kong, so a foreign second weekend around $70M would not be surprising. Japan opens on March 1 and China on March 9, and a global-running cume of $700M is definitely within the film’s grasp in the days to come. The UK remains the highest-grossing territory outside of the U.S. with $31.9M followed by South Korea which counts $30.4M.
Anthony D’Alessandro made update to international box office.
UPDATED, Thursday: Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther is poised to bound across the $500M worldwide mark today, nine days after its release. The global gross through Wednesday is $491.1M with the international box office having passed $200M yesterday to land at $213.6M to date. The Panther’s performance has helped push The Walt Disney Studios across $1B worldwide box office in just 52 days of 2018.
This is a fast time to $500M global for BP. But some big Marvel titles begin offshore rollout a week ahead of domestic, meaning the half a billion mark doesn’t come into play until the sophomore session. The day-and-date here with domestic on a tear has played a role in getting to the milestone. For example, key major MCU movies that bowed overseas before North America include the first Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron which were boosted by domestic in the 2nd frame.
Overseas, the Ryan Coogler-directed film is pacing on track, still running well ahead of Doctor Strange and slightly above 2017’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 and Thor: Ragnarok. Wednesday’s haul was $14.5M in 48 markets, a whisker down on Tuesday but still 11% of an opening weekend that blasted past expectations.
The UK continues to lead play with $30.4M to date, just above Korea’s $29.5M. Rounding out the Top 5, Brazil has jumped to $12.5M, and Mexico and Australia are tied at $11.6M.
There was a notable 61.5% drop-off in Taiwan from Tuesday to Wednesday as the Chinese New Year holiday began to wrap. Most other markets remained stable.
Germany and Italy, the two majors that are seeing softer traction, are now at $7.2M and $4.3M, respectively. Germany, which has been in thrall with Fifty Shades Freed, dipped a hair from Tuesday to Wednesday. Given Ana and Christian will be in their 3rd frame this coming weekend, it’s reasonable to think BP could land No. 1 in the session, even if Marvel movies don’t tend to overindex here. See below for a closer look at why some overseas markets have been hotter than others in early play.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE, writethru: As Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther continues its record-breaking run at domestic turnstiles, it’s passing $200M at the international box office today. That’s after logging $199.2M through Tuesday in 48 markets. Worldwide, the Ryan Coogler-helmed superhero movie has landed $462.3M through Tuesday.
The overseas Tuesday was $14.6M to represent 11% of the opening weekend. It’s performing well ahead of Doctor Strange and slightly topping last year’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 and Thor: Ragnarok, neither of which were clear comps ahead of the opening weekend that smashed expectations. Percentage-wise BP‘s first Tuesday overseas outperformed that of Captain America: Civil War which was at 10%.
The UK has edged out Korea as the No. 1 overseas market with $28.5M through Tuesday versus Korea’s $28.3M. Korea has nevertheless been wild throughout the first week. Its opening was ahead of Doctor Strange and Ragnarok and already exceeded the entire runs of Guardians Of The Galaxy and Ant-Man. A huge Marvel hub, Korea sent a Valentine to Black Panther when it opened on February 14 — a non-traditional Wednesday. That led in to four days of Chinese New Year holiday play.
Importantly, add to that the big scenes shot in Busan which really brought Korea into the movie — as opposed to such blockbuster faves as Hong Kong or Tokyo — and the market integration was a big draw. The fact that talent kicked off the global press junket in-country also helped push those numbers up. It’s also been suggested that a week of non-stop Olympics action in its own backyard might have encouraged the need for distraction.
Brazil is now the No. 3 market with $11.5M followed by Australia and Mexico tied at $10.9M. France is next where T’Challa climbed past 1M admissions in the first week, the 3rd best start of the year and ahead of Doctor Strange, Thor and Guardians Of The Galaxy in their first 7-day stretches. The cume there is $9.5M.
Emerging Asian hubs are also feeding the Panther with Taiwan notably at $8M. Action may begin to shift in some of the South East Asian markets as the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday period eases.
Of the markets where BP isn’t having as hot a run, Germany and Italy are at $6.7M and $4.1M, respectively. Rivals over the weekend were quick to point to the lower returns there, saying the phenomenon we’re seeing elsewhere is not translating. It’s fair to note that in the case of Italy, it’s not a terribly strong Marvel market, and BP should finish similar to Doctor Strange, DC’s Justice League and Guardians 2. Germany likewise doesn’t always overindex on Marvel, but it loves its Ana and Christian, and that was an impediment at open where Fifty Shades Freed dominated the No. 1 spot for the 2nd weekend in a row in what is that film’s top market.
The holds in Asia will be ones to watch, and the jury is still out on whether this movie means films with predominantly Black casts will all of a sudden be guaranteed big numbers overseas, an issue we addressed before offshore play started. We’ll know more about front-loading this coming weekend, and the ultimate test will be China beginning March 9. Russia opens tomorrow, followed by Japan the following week and then China.
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