“Black Panther” is moving more advanced tickets through Fandango’s website than any other superhero film to date, the company reports. Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler and set in the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda, the film premiered to stellar reviews January 29.
“The buzz on ‘Black Panther’ is electric,” said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis. “Early screening audiences say it is one of Marvel’s best movies ever, and the positive word-of-mouth is helping drive the movie’s spectacular advance ticket sales.”
Last week, before those screenings began, Variety reported that “Black Panther” was headed for between $100 million and $120 million in opening weekend receipts following its February 16 debut. Pre-sales launched January 8, and the epic soon broke a Fandango sales record, generating better totals in 24 hours than any prior Marvel entries. “Batman v Superman” previously held the distinction.
The studio’s past two films, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (July 2017) and “Thor: Ragnarock” (November 2017), respectively earned $117 million and $122 million during their first weekends in theaters. However, the highest-earning Marvel feature to date remains “Marvel’s The Avengers.” In 2012, under the direction of Joss Whedon, that film opened with more than $207 million, en route to a domestic gross of $623 million, and a $1.5 billion worldwide result.
“Black Panther” stars Chadwick Boseman — the first African-American actor to lead one of Marvel’s 18 tentpoles — plus Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, 2018 Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya and more. Super Bowl viewers will get a glimpse of Boseman in character this weekend, when he appears in an ad for Lexus.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.