WE'RE GETTING closer and closer to the release of the highly-anticipated Black Panther movie - and it's already set to make a huge debut in the US.
According to Variety, the Marvel-Disney flick is heading for a North American opening in the $100 million to $120 million range for the four-day Presidents Day weekend, early tracking showed on Thursday (Jan 25).
That would be a similar range to the two most recent Marvel entries — Spider-Man: Homecoming, which launched to $117 million in its opening weekend in July, and Thor: Ragnarok, which debuted with $122 million on the second weekend of November.
Tracking showed total awareness of Black Panther at 83%, unaided awareness at 35%, and definite interest at 56%.
Advance ticket sales for Black Panther have already set a record on Fandango, making it the top seller among Marvel Cinematic Universe movies in the first 24 hours, topping Captain America: Civil War.
Chadwick Boseman stars as T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther, who takes over as the king of Wakanda after his father T’Chaka is killed. The film also stars Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Lupita Nyong'o and Michael B. Jordan.
Ryan Coogler directed the movie from a script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole.
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