Usually superhero movies are released in the summer or saved for the November/December period, but sometimes one of these blockbusters willingness to drops outside these seasons. Over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released in April 2014 and met with critical and commercial success, and in two weeks, Black Panther will finally arrive, nearly two full years after Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa debuted in Captain America: Civil War. Black Panther was already on track to have a massive opening weekend, but now it's being estimated that the movie could make as much as $150 million domestically.
This updates comes only two weeks after it was predicted that Black Panther would open in the $120 million range in the United States, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Black Panther has the advantage of opening at the beginning of a four-day weekend, as President's Day falls on Monday, February 19. As Variety reported, if Black Panther draws in a lot of moviegoers that weekend, it could break the President's Day weekend record set by 2016's Deadpool, which collected $152 million. It would also become the fifth highest domestic opening MCU movie, pushing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's $146+ million down to sixth place.
These new box office predictions are just the latest evidence that Black Panther will almost definitely be a commercial powerhouse. Last month, the movie pre-sold more tickets in its first 24 hours than any other Marvel Studios movie, and earlier this week, it was announced that Black Panther had become the highest pre-selling superhero movie of all time, surpassing even Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It also helps that Black Panther's competition on opening weekend are all smaller movies like Early Man and Nostalgia. The weekend after brings slightly bigger fare like Game Night and Annihilation, but when it comes to blockbusters, Black Panther has the market cornered for a few weeks.
While making a lot of money in theaters doesn't always guarantee that a movie will be well received by critics and/or the public, Black Panther also earned a lot of early positive buzz at its world premiere at the beginning of the week. There are also some folks, like Octavia Spencer, who are buying out whole Black Panther screenings so that kids have the opportunity to see the movie. By all accounts, it looks like Marvel has another winner on its hands with the 18th theatrical MCU installment.
Black Panther hits theaters on February 16, and just a few months later, you can revisit Wakanda when Avengers: Infinity War is released on May 4. Don't forget to also scan through our 2018 release schedule to find out what movies will be released later in the year.
