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SUCCESS: Black Panther (Photo credit:Walt Disney Motion Pictures)

MUCH EXCITEMENT has surrounded the release of Black Panther, from the dazzling red carpet premieres which took place in LA, South Korea, London to New York, the numerous fundraising campaigns to get underprivileged kids to watch the film and numermosuu social media hashtags celebrating the importance of the predominately black cast.

With all the promotion and hype surrounding the flick - did it live up to expectations when we look at the numbers?

Turns out that Black Panther, Marvel's first film directed by an African-American - the formidable Ryan Coogler - brought in an estimated $192 million for its three-day debut in North America this weekend. That's the fifth biggest opening of all time.

Disney estimates that the film will bring in $218 million domestically for the four day holiday weekend, whilst the film brought in an opening of $361 million around the world.

Black Panther also shattered the record for an opening in February, which belonged to Deadpool, which brought in $132 million when it opened in 2016.

CNN reports that it is the second biggest opening for a Marvel Studios film, behind 2012's The Avengers, surpassing Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3.

The Black Panther: The Album also earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, launching with 154,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 15.

The last soundtrack to score a larger week was Suicide Squad: The Album, which bowed atop the Aug. 27, 2016-dated list with 182,000 units earned.

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