We have confirmed that tracking service NRG is eyeing a $175 million start for Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. That total would give it the second-best opening of 2022 after Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which debuted to $187.4M in May. Last year’s Marvel sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home owns the biggest domestic opening of the pandemic era at $260M, and second-best in box office history.
The sequel to the $1.3 billion-grossing Black Panther is a reset to the franchise following the August 2020 death of that pic’s lead star Chadwick Boseman. Everyone coming out of San Diego Comic-Con after catching the trailer for the first time is wondering who’ll wear the suit as the new Black Panther.
The first movie opened over Presidents Day weekend to a three-day total of $202M, and a four-day of $242.1M. We’ve heard from exhibition sources that advance ticket sales for Wakanda Forever have been hot, but they’re not the best year to date.
Like all Marvel movies, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is hot with all demos. The sequel is particularly over-indexing with Black moviegoers.
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Finally, it’s a tentpole to get exhibition and marketplace back on track. New Line’s Dwayne Johnson DC movie Black Adam looks to open with $60M+ this weekend, a stepping stone toward Wakanda Forever. Black Adam came on tracking at $70M and calmed to $60M+.
The world premiere for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is next Wednesday in Hollywood, so we’ll have an idea of what word-of-mouth is coming out of that at that point in time.
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