Clever slotting, a lack of competition, or maybe just the film’s actual quality, but Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is continuing to perform at the box office as it settles into its third week of release. The film has now made over $675 million worldwide; $367 million of that total came from domestic theaters, while the remaining $307 million came from overseas territories.
The film added an esteemed $64 million over the five-day extended Thanksgiving period domestically, and another $32 million internationally. It fended off a meek challenge from fellow Disney release Strange World, and has a clear path for the next couple of weeks, before James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water debuts globally.
By comparison, the first Black Panther film had made $501 million domestically by the end of its third weekend. Also directed by Wakanda Forever’s Ryan Coogler, the first Black Panther ended its domestic run with a stunning $700 million — the sixth-biggest haul of all time — and ultimately made $1.3 billion globally. The sequel will likely not match those numbers, simply because the first Black Panther was a touchstone moment in mainstream moviemaking, and is credited with having significantly altered the superhero landscape. And crucially, Wakanda Forever isn't playing in China and Russia, where the first film made a combined total of over $120 million. In addition to its path-breaking box office performance, it also earned Marvel Studios its first-ever Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.
Speaking of the biggest film franchise in the world, Wakanda Forever has already overtaken The Incredible Hulk ($265 million globally), Captain America: The First Avenger ($370 million), Eternals ($402 million), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($432 million), Thor ($449 million), and Ant-Man ($518 million) at the global box office. The sequel has also passed the first Iron Man ($585 million), Iron Man 2 ($621 million) Ant-Man and the Wasp ($623 million) and Thor: The Dark World ($644 million). It’s passing the $676 million lifetime haul of Doctor Strange as we speak.
On a side note, Black Widow made $379 million globally last year, but that film was released day-and-date on the Disney+ streaming service for a premium access fee. Up next, Wakanda Forever will set its sights on Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million worldwide) and Thor: Love and Thunder ($760 million).
The film had a tumultuous production. Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole were working on the screenplay when star Chadwick Boseman died of cancer in 2020. He’d been privately battling the illness for four years. It was eventually decided to forge ahead, and the film that Coogler has made is in many ways a tribute to both Boseman and his iconic character, King T’Challa.
Wakanda Forever stars Letitia Wright as Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Angela Bassett as Queen Mother Ramonda, Mabel Cadena as Namora, Alex Livinalli as Attuma, Martin Freeman as Everett Ross, and Tenoch Huerta Mejía as the villainous Namor. You can watch our interview with Coogler here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.