Is ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ A Big Box Office Win Or Another Phase IV Dud?

Irrespective of the reception, MCU movies are usually very rock solid when it comes to their box office collections. But recently in phase four, we have seen that collections are, although good, not good enough to reach the initially projected numbers (‘Spider-Man NWH’ being an exception). On November 11, the final film of phase four ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ was released worldwide. As expected, it became the No. 1 movie of the weekend (Nov 11- Nov 13) by collecting a mammoth $181.3 Million in the U.S. box office. Worldwide total stood tall at $331.3 Million by the end of the weekend.

Firstly, we will dive deep into the records created by Wakanda Forever in the domestic (U.S.) box office –

• Became the biggest November opening of all time, beating previous best , “The Hunger Games : Catching Fire” 

• Became the second highest opening of 2022, just behind another MCU entry, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”

• Became the 8^th best MCU opening, and 13^th best overall domestic opening of all time.

• It also topped the table of per theater averages for this weekend (Nov 11- Nov 13), beating Spielberg’s newest film ‘The Fabelmans’.

But even with all these staggering numbers, is it safe to already declare it a blockbuster? Or is there more than meets the eye? Let’s find out.

Usually whenever a sequel to a financially and critically acclaimed film releases, it is safe to assume that, at the very least, the opening weekend will be gigantic because of the previous film’s legacy and that it will usually surpass the original. 2018’s “Black Panther,” starring Chadwick Boseman, raked in a massive $1.38 billion at the box office and was also a Best Picture nominee. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is also having a mostly positive reception (84% RT score and Grade “A” Cinemascore), but still, it could not beat its predecessor’s opening numbers. Ryan Coogler’s first “Black Panther” had an astounding $202 million opening weekend. But the sequel not only failed to surpass it but also fell short by $21 million to even match it. Even with high anticipation for the movie and positively received trailers, “Black Panther : Wakanda Forever” could not even beat the opening weekend numbers of the mixed-reviewed “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” 

India is now a very strong market for superhero films (especially the MCU), but if we look at the numbers there, they also tell the same story. Here, the situation is even worse. ‘Wakanda Forever’ with its 12.50 crore opening day collection in India, could not even beat the negatively reviewed ‘Thor Love and Thunder’. It failed to enter the top 5 list of  MCU opening day collections in India.

At the time of writing this article, the worldwide total for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” had passed $400 million. The second weekend drop will be extremely crucial to examine. If the drop is somewhere between 52 and 63%, that will be considered a good hold. That will signify that the movie will have a long run at the box office and can easily get to a very respectable total. But if the drop gets to more than 65%, then it might create some panic in the house of the mouse. We will have a much clearer picture after the second weekend’s numbers come in. Join us here next week to know how it all eventually turns out.

See more: Domination Of Indian Films At The U.S. & Worldwide Box Office: 2022, Year In Review