Black Panther‘s success just can’t be stopped.
After a record-breaking first weekend in theaters, the Marvel movie had another great weekend for the second time in a row, this time pushing its numbers to a $700 million worldwide haul, according to CNN Money.
Unsurprisingly, those second-weekend numbers come with their own set of records.
With a $108 million take for the second weekend, Black Panther joins a small group of movies to break $100 million in the second week. The other three films in that group are Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and The Avengers.
Of that group, only The Force Awakens had a higher take for its second weekend.
Black Panther also showed off its staying power, with only a 47 percent drop in its audience numbers for the second weekend. Compare that to other Marvel movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron, with a drop around 60 percent, and it’s clear that Black Panther isn’t going to stop busting up expectations anytime soon. It seems to be just a matter of time before the film surpasses the $1 billion mark.
The record-breaking reviews are also holding strong, with a 97 percent fresh score on the siteRotten Tomatoes. That makes Black Panther one of the highest-reviewed superhero movies ever.
Representation matters
The success of Black Panther of course has other historical significance. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Black-led film, there is a lot of weight to the story being told. But more than that, it’s also by far the biggest opening for an African-American director ever. There are already talks of Marvel wanting Ryan Coogler to do more for them, and we’re definitely here for that idea.
After all, Black Panther is more than just a box office success. It’s the biggest, Blackest movie of the year, and it is a roaring success for representation and diversity on the screen. And we hope that this massive success will prompt the entertainment industry to realize that representation matters — and pays off.
