Movies: "Black Panther" Stalks A Billion Worldwide

-Hollywood Reporter

Ryan Coogler's groundbreaking superhero pic Black Panthercontinued to defy all expectations in its sophomore outing, grossing an estimated $108 million from 4,020 theaters to score the top second weekend of all time behind Star Wars: Force Awakens.

The Disney and Marvel title hit the $400 million mark domestically in only 10 days after dropping a narrow 47 percent in its second weekend. That's one of the lowest declines ever for a superhero title, as well as one of the lowest for a film launching north of $200 million (the bigger the opening, the bigger the drop in many instances). Thanks to Black Panther, domestic revenue year to date is now up a dazzling 12 percent over the same period in 2017 after running behind by one person two weeks ago, according to comScore.

Overseas, Black Panther earned $83.8 million for an international tally of $304 million and global haul of $704 million, including $50 million for Imax theaters. It has yet to open in Russia, Japan and China.

In North America, Black Panther — becoming the fourth movie to cross $100 million in its second weekend — earned more in its second outing than a number of 2017 tentpoles did in their first weekend, including Wonder Woman ($103.3 million), Justice League ($93 million) and The Fast and the Furious ($98.8 million). And it ties with Jurassic World in reaching $400 million faster than any film in history behind Force Awakens.

"The movie continues to play ahead of our modeling," says Disney's Dave Hollis. "It has become a cultural phenomenon. This is a movie audiences were hoping for, and that delivered beyond expectations."

Another accomplishment: Black Panther is already the top-grossing February of all time domestically — Deadpool was the previous best with $363.1 million —  and is on the verge of becoming the No. 3 MCU title of all time in the U.S. as it prepares to pass up Captain America: Civil War ($408 million) and Iron Man 3 ($409 million) in the next few days. And it will soon growl past Avengers: Age of Ultron ($459 million) on its way to potentially eclipsing The Avengers ($623.4 million) to become the No. 1 superhero title of all time, unadjusted for inflation.

Force Awakens is the champ in terms of biggest second weekend domestically with $149.2 million, not accounting for inflation. Other films high up on the list include Jurassic World ($106.6 million) and fellow MCU title The Avengers ($103.1 million).

The movie continued to play to an ethnically diverse audience. Caucasians made up a bigger share of ticket buyers this time out, or 37 percent, compared to 35 percent on opening weekend, while the African-American share went from 37 percent to 33 percent, according to comScore/Screen Engine. Hispanics remain unchanged at 18 percent, followed by Asians (7 percent) and Native Americans/Other (5 percent).

No other marquee superhero tentpole has played to such a diverse audience.