Marvel’sBlack Pantherhas been the talk of the town this weekend, posting incredible numbers with $201.7M over the three-day weekend, fifth best of all time, and a four-day President’s Day holiday weekend tally of $235M, the biggest ever for that holiday and the third-biggest four-day total ever. The movie’s success even prompted congratulations from one of the DCEU’s best filmmakers,Wonder Womandirector Patty Jenkins, who expressed how happy she was aboutBlack Panther’s success in a tweet this morning. Here’s what the director had to say on social media.
“Huge congrats #BlackPanther on the staggering weekend. So happy for your incredibly meaningful success.Wonder Womanposse can’t wait for break in schedule to see it! You’re changing the world. What a wonderful thing! Congrats to you all @theblackpanther #RyanCoogler.”
Patty Jenkinscertainly isn’t the first to congratulate the movie and its filmmakers/stars on its success, with formerFirst Lady Michelle Obamatweeting out her congratulatory remarks yesterday. Heading into its second weekend,Black Pantherwill go up against three new movies in wide release, Warner Bros.‘Game Night, Paramount’sAnnihilationand Orion Pictures’Every Day, although none of these projects are expected to stopBlack Pantherafter that monstrous opening weekend. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to seeBlack Pantherdominate at the box office for at least the next two weekends, with its biggest challenge likely coming from another Disney movie, the live-action adaptation ofA Wrinkle In Time.
Black Pantherhas also been a huge hit with the critics, with itsRotten Tomatoes scorecurrently at 97%, although at one point it was at 100% when the first wave of reviews hit. Some are even wondering if it could be an early Oscar contender, despite being released so early in the year. Then again, Best Picture nomineeGet Outwas also released in February last year, and there was even a Best Picture winner that was released in January,The Silence of the Lambs, which, coincidentally, was the last movie to win all five of the biggest Oscars, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress. Whether or notBlack Pantherwill get any awards season traction won’t be determined for quite some time though.
While Marvel has yet to confirmBlack Panther 2yet, itsdevelopment seems inevitablegiven the massive opening weekend success. There was previously talk of multiple sequels and spin-offs being developed around several of the characters found in Wakanda, including breakout star Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Winston Duke’s M’baku, Daniel Kaluuya’s W’kabi and Forest Whitaker’s Zuri, just to name a few. It remains unclear if director Ryan Coogler will return to the helm, or if he will also write the script alongside hisBlack Pantherco-writer Joe Robert Cole (American Crime Story). Regardless, this sequel, when announced, will become one of the most highly-anticipated projects, which will likely happen during Marvel Phase 4. While we wait for more onBlack Panther 2, take a look at the special message fromPatty Jenkins Twitter.
