Superhero movies do well at the box office because Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dominates its opening weekend with an estimated $84 million opening day in 4,396 theaters, including $28 million in previews.
The film is estimated between $175 million and $185 million, which would make it the second highest opening weekend of 2022 after Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness which opened at $187.4 million in May.
Meanwhile, the DCs black adam is estimated to collect around $10 million at the box office in the film’s fourth weekend for a domestic total of around $150 million. DC’s superhero movie needs to hit around $200 million domestically and will struggle to reach $400 million worldwide to at least have a chance to recoup its budget before marketing costs.
Should black adam hold this weekend, it would be the third release for Warner Bros. Discovery to hit the $150 million mark, joining The Batman and Elvis.
How much did the first cost Black Panther score on its opening weekend?
By comparison, Black Panther opened to $202 million when it hit theaters in February 2018. The film went on to gross over $1.34 billion worldwide, making it the fourteenth most profitable of all time at the time of this writing.
Two years after the release of Black Panther and the return of T’Challa in Avengers: Infinity War and its follow-up End of Game, Chadwick Boseman, the actor behind the fan-favorite character, has died aged 43, after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Marvel made the decision not to recast T’Challa for the sequel, with a new character taking on the mantle of Black Panther.
In Heroic Hollywood’s review of the film, Ryden Scarnato wrote: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever resumes after the events of Avengers: Endgame, with T’Challa’s death becoming permanent due to Boseman’s actual passing and the story that now follows the world of Wakanda dealing with that grief. Although the film is an ensemble, it ultimately rests on the shoulders of Letitia Wright’s Shuri and Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda.
When it comes to performances, everyone here is at the top of their game, and you can’t help but think that’s because of the film’s intertwining with real life. With Wright and Bassett serving as focal points, the two are the strongest of the bunch, with incredibly personal moments that are some of the most heartfelt we’ve ever seen in the MCU. Shuri’s larger role in the film, in particular, also works for those who might have reservations.
