This past weekend “Black Panther” opened nationally with over $200 million in ticket sales, and another $169 million from overseas markets. This makes it the most successful February movie opening ever, and one of the top five for any time of year. (It’s a really terrific movie in many ways; I highly recommend it.)
A month ago the prediction was that it would have a $100 million opening weekend. To make those bigger numbers the appeal for Black Panther expanded well beyond U.S. Blacks. It’s not just “a terrific Black film”; it’s a terrific film. Nonetheless they do form a core audience that may help sustain it at the box office longer than it might otherwise.
Last summer’s “Wonder Woman”, also from Marvel Studios, had a similar cultural impact and commercial success, grossing over $800 million worldwide with its female lead.
Super heroes have traditionally been white males. (Black Widow, part of the Marvel Avengers team, has still not had her own movie despite being played in those ensemble films by Scarlett Johansson; for years Marvel has said, “we’re working on it.”) Literally a majority of the audience did not have a super hero that looked like them and had had their experiences. But Marvel is now showing the great commercial success possible from catering to under-served parts of a market.
