At this point, Black Panther's performance at the box office has stopped being surprising and is now just impressive. The records felled and achievements by this movie are too numerous to count, but here's just a sample. Black Panther was number one at the box office for five straight weekends, it is now the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time domestically and it is the most tweeted about movie ever. But just because it is almost out on Blu-ray doesn't mean it's done racking up achievements at the box office. Black Panther has now passed the nigh-unsinkable Titanic to become the third highest-grossing film of all time domestically.
This is just another notch in Black Panther's super-advanced belt and a remarkable achievement in its own right. Titanic currently sits at $659.36 million domestically, taking into account its long theatrical run, as well as the 2012 3D re-release and the 20th anniversary reissue last year. But like a vibranium-coated iceberg right through the hull, Black Panther has sunk Titanic, and as of this writing it sits at $667.19 million domestically. Up until now, Titanic has rested comfortably in the top three, only being surpassed by another James Cameron film, Avatar, which sits at number two, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which returned a beloved franchise to the world. Forbes estimates that Black Panther will finish its domestic run with $687 million, which is nowhere near enough to push it past Avatar to claim the number two spot, but is impressive enough that the next film to gun for the number three spot has some work to do.
Just remember that the worldwide standings are slightly different. Black Panther is already over $1.3 billion worldwide, which is good enough for number 10 on the all-time leaderboard. The film above it and probably out of its reach is another recent Disney release: Star Wars: The Last Jedi at $1.33 billion. On the superhero front, Black Panther has long since passed the massive team-up film The Avengers and the greatest movie about the most popular superhero ever, The Dark Knight, to claim the top spot. However, Black Panther may not want to get to comfortable in its top superhero spot, because it has some serious competition on the way in the form of, well, Black Panther.
T'Challa and Wakanda look to be playing a pivotal role in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. The MCU's event film is unquestionably the biggest superhero movie ever, and advance ticket sales are showing that much like the Avengers themselves, records will fall when Thanos comes to town. Infinity War is already outpacing the early ticket sales of the past seven Marvel Cinematic Universe movies combined, and yes, that includes Black Panther. I don't know if Avatar's worldwide title is in jeopardy, but on the domestic front, the Na'vi and the residents of Jakku may need to consider the possibility that their medals will be downgraded.
Even though Black Panther is still continuing its historic run at the box office, you can finally watch it from the comfort of your own home when it hits digital on May 8 and Blu-ray on May 15. As for the future king, Marvel will be collecting money like Thanos collects infinity stones when Avengers: Infinity War arrives in theaters on April 27.
