Only in its second weekend, Marvel's Black Panther is well on its way to hitting a gross of $1 billion after putting $704 million on the boards within its 12 days of running in theaters across the globe. This weekend, the film secured a bag of $108 million domestically, bringing its Notrth American total up to $400 million. Surpassing Marvel's Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, Black Panther has earned the title of Marvel's 10th highest grossing film.
Internationally, the United Kingdom is the film's best-performing market, earning $41.2 million there with South Korea coming in second with a figure of $36 million. The film still has much more to make as it will premiere in the Japanese market on March 1st before heading to China on March 9th. History shows that both countries are strong international markets for Hollywood.
Already, Black Panther has outperformed the lifetime totals of the three films released by the Marvel Cinematic Universe last year: Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok with theaters reporting a greater amount of repeat viewings than usual.
"This movie has very strong word of mouth and a deeply loyal core fan base, which are both necessary criteria for repeat business," said Greg Foster, entertainment chief of IMAX which is playing Black Panther in more than 60 countries.
After a historic opening weekend, director Ryan Coogler took the time to pen a thank you letter in the wake of the movie's success. "Thank you for giving our team of filmmakers the greatest gift: the opportunity to share this film that we poured our hearts and souls into with you," he wrote. It goes with out saying that he'll have plenty more to be thankful for as this film rides out.