Strong $181 million opening for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
The sequel to “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” opened with bite this past weekend, pulling in $181 million in domestic box office gross.
This was in line with expectations. It fell short of the first film’s $202 million opening in February 2018.
It’s also the second-largest opening of the year, behind only Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” at $187.4 million. And it’s the biggest November opening ever.
The film, which was largely shot at Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, was a major Marvel sequel to the original “Black Panther.” It faced delays after lead Chadwick Boseman died of cancer in 2020, requiring director Ryan Coogler to re-write the entire script.
Reviews have been largely positive, if not as positive as the original movie. Rotten Tomatoes has critical reviews at 85% while viewers have been more generous with a 95% positive rating. The critics gave the 2018 film a 96% positive rating. The polling company CinemaScore said the average person polled gave the movie an A compared to A+ for the original.
The movie’s viewing audience was highly diverse, according to PostTrak, comprised of 34% Black, 31% white, 21% Latino and 14% Asian or other. And the opening weekend drew a 45% female audience, a relatively high percentage for a superhero movie.
Internationally, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” drew $150 million outside the United States opening weekend.
The original movie’s final international gross was ultimately more than $1.3 billion.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
