Black Pantherhas already beatJustice Leagueat the domestic box office after just four days of release. It’s no secret at this point that Warner Bros. didn’t get what they wanted out ofJustice Leagueand the movie is likely to lose quite a bit of money. Even if it turns a profit, it will be minimal. On the flipside of the coin, Marvel has another massive hit withBlack Panther, which is over-performing in just about every way possible. Still, even with that, it’s really eye-opening to realize that a relatively obscure character from the world of Marvel Comics has beat DC’s premiere, A-list team at the box office over the course of a long holiday weekend.
Over thePresident’s Day weekend,Black Pantherpulled in a staggeringly impressive $235 million domestic debut. Even if we ignore Monday, the movie still pulled in $201 million over the course of the three day weekend, making it the fifth-highestdomestic debut at the box officeever. That’s just one weekend in.Justice League, on the other hand, earned just $228.6 million during the entirety of its theatrical run at the box office. It’s not hard to imagine thatBlack Panthercould more than double that number by the time the dust settles.
From a financial perspective beyond looking simply at the box office, the upside for Marvel is truly better as well.Justice Leaguehad a troubled production with very expensive reshoots done by Joss Whedon. That reportedly brought the budget up to $300 million. That’s before marketing costs. That makes the movie’s $657.4 million worldwide number, which would be great for most movies, pretty terrible. On the flipside, Marvel once again, as far as we know, had a breezy production withCreeddirector Ryan Coogler at the helm forBlack Panther. Even though the movie’s production budget was high, at a reported $200 million, that’s still a whole lot less thanJustice League’s and this movie will prove to bequite profitable.
The other factor to consider here isreception.Black Panthercurrently boasts a 97 percent approval rating from critics, whileJustice Leagueholds a pretty ugly 40 percent. As for the audience score, both movies are nearly identical in that respect, at 77 and 76 percent, respectively. Though, there are some angry fans that may have bombed Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews to sabotageBlack Panther’s score. In any case, word of mouth is clearly better forBlack Pantherlooking around online and that’s helped get people in seats. Not to mention the overall strength of Marvel’s brand at this point and the good will they’ve managed to build with audiences over the years.
Black Pantherwill easily overtakeJustice Leagueat the worldwide box office in the coming weeks. Currently, the movie has made a reported $404 million worldwide so far, with $169 million coming from overseas to go with the domestic opening weekend gross, according toBox Office Mojo. WithBlack Pantherstill rolling out in key markets, this could be yet another Marvel movie to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office, when all’s said and done.
