13 Huge Movies That Black Panther Destroyed At The Box Office

A year ago, could anyone have anticipated that Black Panther would become a pop-culture event on quite this level? Sure, it was always going to be a solid hit, given the Marvel Cinematic Universe's seeming inability to deliver a box office dud, but would it have surprised anyone if it landed in the $600-700 million range, alongside a similarly niche superhero property such as Doctor Strange?

As it turned out, Black Panther has grossed $1.336 billion at the time of press, making it both the highest-grossing film of 2018 (for a few more days until Infinity War overtakes it), and the 9th highest-grossing film of all time. Wow.

Studying the box office game in any detail makes it incredibly easy to be cynical about general audiences and their preference for broad, brainless blockbuster entertainment, but showing up to support one of the MCU's strongest entries to date - one with an almost entirely black cast no less - was proof perfect that they know real quality when they see it.

With Black Panther over-performing even enthusiastic pre-release expectations, it's managed to break countless records and destroy even some of cinema's most successful and bankable franchises. What a result. And as for Black Panther 2? The sky's the freaking limit...