“Black Panther” is helping Hollywood set box office records for the President’s Day weekend, industry analysts said Monday.
Disney’s presentation of the Marvel Entertainment property — the first big-budget comic book movie to feature a black superhero — took in an estimated $201 million Friday through Sunday at theaters in the United States and Canada, according to comScore.
That’s the fifth-highest opening weekend ever recorded. The film’s total for the four-day weekend — including Monday’s holiday — is expected to reach $235 million.
The domestic box office take for all films this four-day weekend is predicted to hit $340 million, which would smash the previous record for a President’s Day weekend of $278.4 million in 2016.
“Peter Rabbit” was in second place, with an estimated $23.1 million for the Friday-though-Monday period. “Fifty Shades Freed” was in third, with $19.4 million, ahead of “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” with $10 million.
Rounding out the 10 most-popular films, as estimated by the studios and gathered by comScore, were “The 15:17 To Paris” ($9.1 million for the four-day holiday weekend), “The Greatest Showman” ($6.2 million ), “Early Man” (premiering with a $4.2 million weekend), “Maze Runner: The Death Cure: $3.1 million), “Winchester” ($2.6 million) and “The Post” $2.4 million).
Final, revised box office figures will be released Tuesday.
—City News Service