“Black Panther” has grossed $400 million domestically and $704 million worldwide in two weeks. The film, starring Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, has held even better overseas, where it dropped by only 42 percent over the weekend. Its release in China, the world’s second-largest film market, is set for March 9.
“Whatever your projections for ‘Black Panther’ might be, just increase them by 20 percent and you might be on point,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “Now the question isn’t so much if it gets to $1 billion, but how far beyond that number does it go.”
The results put it in the company of “Jurassic World,” which ended up grossing $1.67 billion worldwide, and “The Avengers,” which hauled in $1.52 billion. Both rank among the top five of all time, not accounting for inflation.
And the movie is doing it with an especially diverse audience. The weekend’s audience was 33 percent African-American, 37 percent Caucasian, 18 percent Hispanic and 7 percent Asian, according to comScore.
The film’s success didn’t appear to hurt the handful of new releases. The overall box office is up by 12.5 percent from last year, according to comScore.
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Faring the best was “Game Night,” starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, from Warner Bros.’ New Line. The comedy, which cost about $37 million to make and was directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, made its debut with $16.6 million, coming in slightly above forecasts.
Although comedies have struggled at the box office in recent years, “Game Night” got a modest boost from good reviews and perhaps from the waves of moviegoers brought in by “Black Panther.”
“It’s that whole ‘a rising tide floats all boats,'” said Jeff Goldstein, distribution head for Warner Bros.
Alex Garland’s sci-fi thriller “Annihilation,” starring Natalie Portman, also made its debut with some momentum thanks to strong reviews. It opened with $11 million on about 2,000 screens (about half the number of “Black Panther”).
Paramount earlier sold the film’s international rights (except in China) to Netflix after disappointing reactions in test screenings. Opening weekend audiences largely responded similarly, giving the film a poor C CinemaScore.
“Annihilation,” an unusually challenging and psychedelic sci-fi release for a major studio, cost about $40 million to produce. It’s among the last releases green-lit by previous Paramount head Brad Grey. Jim Gianopulos took over as chief executive and chairman last year, and he is pushing a more franchise-focused agenda.
Also opening was the micro-budget young adult romance “Every Day,” the first release from Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s rebooted Orion Pictures. The film, which cost less than $5 million to make, made its debut with $3.1 million in ticket sales.