"Black Panther" shattered box office records over the four-day Presidents Day holiday weekend, with The King of Wakanda and his team exceeding expectations by raking in an estimated $235 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.
The Marvel Entertainment release has made history as the biggest debut ever for the holiday period as well as for the month of February and for the entire pre-summer January-to-April span, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Adding to the film's new and impressive repertoire, "Black Panther" is the first global superhero blockbuster to feature an African American director and a mostly black cast, The Los Angeles Times said, plus it has been hailed as the second best all-time for any comic book movie ever.
Ryan Coogler's directing abilities saw "Black Panther" topple the previous record set by "Deadpool," which brought in $152 million domestically over the four-day holiday in 2016.
The movie, which grossed an estimated $60.1 million on Sunday alone, is the fifth-highest domestic opening weekend of all time, lying in contention with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015), "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017), "Jurassic World" (2012) and "Marvel's The Avengers" (2012), although Hollywood Reporter noted that "Black Panther" could still climb higher once all the weekend numbers are tallied up on Tuesday.
"Results like this go beyond anything anyone ever could have hoped for," said Dave Hollis, president of global distribution at Disney, according to the L.A. Times. "The momentum that the film has, has left us unable, even, to keep up with projections. It's unbelievable."
The movie drew impressive reviews across the board from critics as well as audiences who gave it a perfect A+ grade from CinemaScore, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and even gained the stamp of approval from celebrities.
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