And they say movies with all Black casts don’t sell! When, Black Panther dropped we all knew it would break records. The movie premiered at the perfect time. We are in a racially charged era where we’re clinging to anything that affirms out blackness. If I didn’t know the story behind how this movie has been in the making since the 1990s I’d think Marvel was strategic in dropping it at this point in time. Nevertheless, I’m glad that we have a superhero movie featuring an all-black cast (with a few being HBCU Alumni) with a black director. We’re on now!
According to Forbes, Black Panther earned $9.9 million the fourth Friday of release. That brings it to $41.1 million in weekend gross. Altogether, it’s earned $530.8 million domestically, crossing Rogue One and The Dark Knight. When it officially crosses The Dark Knight it will be the second biggest superhero film ever only behind The Avengers ($623 millon, 2012). It’s not that far away from being the #1 biggest superhero movie either!
Attribute this success largely to the general black community. We did everything we could to make this movie a cultural phenomenon. We made it a official Black History month event. We made it a point to go during premiere weekend and were so blown away that we went two and three more times. Black celebrities even were renting out whole movie theaters and inviting whole communities to watch for free. We kept the chatter going on social media and even encouraged people who haven’t seen it to finally go so they could be caught up in the jokes and memes that spawned from the movie.
The success of Black Panther is proof that our dollars have power. Let’s keep this trend going and support all the positive, productive black media that we see. Wakanda forever!
Source
- Mendelson, Scott. “Box Office: Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Mar. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/03/10/box-office-black-panther-sprints-past-1-billion-worldwide/#2d7c7f043bb2.
