It’s about time! “Black Panther” was released almost six months ago on February 16, but after weeks of hovering at around $699 million at the domestic box office, it has finally crossed the $700 million threshold. It’s one of only three films ever to do so.
The first movie that ever made $700 million was James Cameron‘s “Avatar” (2009), which topped out at $760 million. At the time that made it the highest grossing film ever at the domestic box office, but that was shattered upon the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015), which almost made a billion dollars stateside alone. It ended its run with $936 million in domestic receipts.
The release of “Black Panther” was followed two months later by the massive crossover film “Avengers: Infinity War,” which also features characters from “Black Panther.” That film made history with the biggest opening weekend of all time ($257 million), and it eclipsed “Black Panther” on the world stage, making $2.045 billion compared to “Panther’s” still-massive global haul of $1.346 billion, but “Infinity War” never managed to catch “Panther” in North America.
“Infinity War” has made $678 million on these shores so far, which makes it — alas — only the fourth biggest film ever in North America (not accounting for inflation). Though “Infinity” had the bigger opening, widespread acclaim and positive word of mouth gave “Black Panther” longer staying power.
It’s been a good year for the Marvel franchise no matter how you slice it. “Black Panther” and “Infinity War” are both among the top five highest grossing films at the domestic box office in histoory, and they’re both among the top 10 worldwide moneymakers of all time. Meanwhile, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” has raked in $426 million worldwide, an substantial sum that makes it almost an indie film by Marvel standards these days.
So what do you think: have Marvel movies peaked, or does this indicate more records yet to be broken by the decade-long franchise?
