‘Wakanda Forever’ Scores Biggest November Opening Ever

You’ll be shocked to learn that the latest Marvel movie is a massive hit.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuted in movie theaters across the country and around the world over the weekend, and exceeded most expert predictions for its box office performance. The film grossed an estimated $180 million in U.S. theaters alone, and around $330 million worldwide.

Those are epic numbers — although they are down slightly from the opening of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earlier in the spring (which grossed $187.4 million in theaters in its opening weekend) and from the first Black Panther, which made $202 million domestically in its first three days of release back in 2018. Still, Wakanda Forever’s opening was substantially better than the last Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Thor: Love and Thunder, which opened with $144.1 million earlier this summer.

Time of year always has an impact on box office; Doctor Strange and Thor both opened in the late spring and summer, while Wakanda Forever is rolling out into theaters in mid-November, shortly before theatrical movie business traditionally picks up during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. And in fact Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s totals last weekend are good enough to make it the biggest opening ever for a November release. (That title was previously held by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which made $158 million in its first three days in theaters back in 2013.)

While Wakanda Forever’s big opening was never in doubt, it remains to be seen how the film will play through those potentially lucrative holidays coming up. The movie did get an A from CinemaScore, typically a good sign that audiences like a film and word of mouth will be positive. While an A is better than Marvel’s Multiverse of Madness and Love and Thunder — both of which got B+’s from CinemaScore, the original Black Panther did get a rare A+. So audiences so far liked it — just not quite as much as the first film.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters now.