Disney and Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has passed the $400 million mark at the global box office after just six days of release, barring a handful of territories that opened a couple of days earlier. For context, DC’s Black Adam is languishing with around $350 million worldwide after nearly a month in release. Wakanda Forever debuted with an excellent $181 million opening weekend domestically, which was just slightly shy of the $187 million opening weekend record for 2022 set by fellow Marvel sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earlier this year.
The film has made $213 million domestically, and an additional $187 million in overseas territories, for a global haul of $400 million. Wakanda Forever has already passed the lifetime totals of a couple of early Marvel Cinematic Universe movies — The Incredible Hulk and Captain America: The First Avenger. Wakanda Forever has also shot ahead of the global lifetime haul of last year’s Black Widow, but that film was released concurrently on the Disney+ streaming service, for a premium access fee. It is overtaking the $402 million lifetime haul of Eternals as we speak and will pass the $432 million and $449 million worldwide lifetime hauls of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Thor by the end of its second weekend.
Internationally, the film’s biggest territory so far is the United Kingdom ($14.6 million), followed by Mexico ($12.9 million) and France ($11.5 million). Wakanda Forever has set a high bar for itself. The first Black Panther film, released in 2018, was a box office phenomenon. It grossed $700 million domestically — the sixth-biggest stateside finish in history — and concluded its worldwide run with $1.3 billion. It also scored the first-ever Best Picture nomination for the MCU at the Oscars and is still beloved among fans.
Having eviscerated Black Adam and with no competition in sight until next month’s Avatar: The Way of Water, Wakanda Forever has a clear shot at capitalizing on the holiday period. A Forbes report predicted that the superhero film can enjoy the standard 3x multiplier for this time of the year, which would take it over the coveted $1 billion mark globally by the end of its run. This would be higher than the lifetime hauls of both other MCU films of 2022; Doctor Strange 2 finished with $955 million globally, while Thor: Love and Thunder made $760 million worldwide.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, who also helmed the first film, Wakanda Forever explores themes of grief and family in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. Production of the film was greatly impacted by the tragic passing of star Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in 2020, after privately battling the illness for four years.
Wakanda Forever stars Letitia Wright as Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Angela Bassett as Queen Mother Ramonda, Mabel Cadena as Namora, Alex Livinalli as Attuma, Martin Freeman as Everett Ross, and Tenoch Huerta Mejía as the villainous Namor.
Wakanda Forever is playing in theaters everywhere. You can watch our interview with Coogler here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
