Black Panther was by no means a guaranteed success for Marvel.

For starters, the film cost significantly more than other comparable films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film cost around $200m to create. That kind of budget is usually reserved for sequels to the tentpole franchises and the effects-heavy Guardians Of The Galaxy series.

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More obviously, Black Panther is a significant deviation from other Marvel projects in tone and direction. It’s the first Marvel film without a primarily white American cast of characters. It’s also one of only a few Marvel films not to be primarily based in the USA.

Finally, Black Panther doesn’t actually have many ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large. The film mostly functions as a standalone piece, so there isn’t a huge incentive for fans to see in order to be able to understand future films.

Still, none of those issues have stopped Black Panther from garnering impressive reviews across the board and giving a brilliant opening weekend performance.

How much did Black Panther make?

According to film performance aggregator, Box Office Mojo, Black Panther has made well over $361m on it’s opening weekend alone. That’s the fifteenth biggest opening weekend in the history of cinema worldwide. It’s also the second biggest opening weekend for a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only falling behind The Avengers.

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The film has performed well in the US with an estimated $192m. That’s the fifth biggest opening weekend of all time only falling behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jurassic World, and The Avengers.

The film has also performed well overseas. The biggest market for Black Panther, outside of the US was South Korea where it took $25.3m.

The Korean success could be due to the fact that several of Black Panther‘s action sequences were filmed and set in the South Korean port city of Busan. One of the film’s most memorable sequences, the thrilling car chase, shot in Busan’s Gwangalli Beach area, had 700 extras and over 150 cars according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film also has popular Korean actor Alexis Rhee in its Korean scenes.

The second and third biggest openings were in the UK/Ireland and Mexico respectively. Black Panther took $24.8m in the UK/Ireland, and $9.6m in Mexico according to Variety.

After hree days, Black Panther has made over half of Justice League‘s total lifetime earnings ($657m.) 

What are critics saying about Black Panther?

Black Panther holds a 97 percent ‘Certified Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critical reviews. Its audience score is 77 percent. Over on another critical review aggregator, Metacritic, Black Panther has an 88 percent score, indicating near universal acclaim.

The film’s audiences have also been coming away impressed. CinemaScore, a film ratings agency, gave the film an A+. While it’s not uncommon for films to receive such a rating, it is certainly a positive. A film with lower ratings is rarely destined to be a financial success.

Safe to say, Marvel has a real hit on its hands. If the studio plays its cards right, Black Panther stands a chance of becoming one of Marvel’s best performing movies ever.

Then again, it will face still competition from Infinity War, the film that will draw together every single film in the Marvel Universe for the ultimate crossover that has been 10 years in the making. Infinity War is due for release on 4th May 2018.

All Marvel movies in order

For those excited about the release of Infinity War, Black Panther‘s release provides the final piece of the puzzle. Now fans can watch all the Marvel movies leading up to the crossover.

Here they are in the order that they fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline.

  1. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
  2. Iron Man (2008)
  3. Iron Man 2 (2010)
  4. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
  5. Thor (2011)
  6. The Avengers (2012)
  7. Iron Man 3 (2013)
  8. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
  9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
  10. Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)
  11. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
  12. Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
  13. Ant-Man (2015)
  14. Doctor Strange (2016)
  15. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
  16. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
  17. Black Panther (2018)
  18. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)