Black Panther shredding records

Chadwick Boseman has the lead role in Marvel Studios’ newest release, Black Panther. It blasted into first place at last weekend’s box office, making about $242 million.
Chadwick Boseman has the lead role in Marvel Studios’ newest release, Black Panther. It blasted into first place at last weekend’s box office, making about $242 million.

With a massive $40.2 million in ticket sales Monday, Black Panther has set another box-office record: biggest Monday ever.

The higher Monday figure gives Black Panther the second biggest four-day weekend, behind only the $288.1 million of The Force Awakens. With $242 million over the Washington's Birthday weekend, Black Panther moves ahead of December's Star Wars: Episode VIII -- The Last Jedi in the ranks of four-day starts.

When Hollywood does manufacture a must-see theatrical event, it has increasingly been propelled by the power of inclusiveness. Just as Jordan Peele's Oscar-nominated Get Out ($253 million worldwide on a $4.5 million production budget) and Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman ($821.1 million) did before it, Black Panther captured the zeitgeist by the potent combination of top-notch filmmaking (the film stands at 97 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), studio backing and an audience hungry to see itself represented on the big screen in a way it seldom has before.

At the box office, inclusion is paying -- and often, it's paying off big time.

"Diversity does in fact, sell," said Darnell Hunt, a professor and director of social science at UCLA whose research has detailed the connection between diversity and bottom lines. "In hindsight, it's kind of a no-brainer. The American public is about 40 percent people of color now, and we know that people of color over-index in terms of media consumption. The patterns we've been seeing are only becoming more pronounced as time goes on."

Black Panther debuted with $361 million in worldwide ticket sales, setting up the $200 million film for a theatrical run that should easily eclipse $1 billion. History is assured. Just months after Jenkins helmed the biggest box-office hit directed by a woman, Ryan Coogler will set a new mark for films directed by a black man. The debut, the best ever for February, is the fifth highest of all time, not accounting for inflation.

At a time where hits are hard to come by for Hollywood, diversity in storytelling is proving to be not only a just cause, but a box-office imperative.

"If you want to succeed on the global stage, certainly in the tent-pole business, you have to have diversity in storytelling, in the characters that you put in front of the camera, in the artisans you put behind the camera -- to be able to get that better, richer storytelling and to drive huge results," said Dave Hollis, distribution chief for Disney. "The results speak for themselves."

Hollis pointed to the many factors that made Black Panther a hit: Coogler's direction, the stewardship of Kevin Feige's Marvel, the reliability of the brand. But he also noted a developing pattern for Disney -- that inclusive films are richer for their diversity and, often, richer for the bottom line.

"It feels like the right thing to do. It makes for better, richer storytelling, and we're a business. It's something that's just delivered big, huge box office," Hollis said. "When we have leaned into and had inclusion and representation as part of the mix, it's just really worked. When you think about Star Wars and Rogue One, the female protagonist leading those stories. Also Moana or Coco. Coco has been an absolute juggernaut."

Coco, which is expected to win the Oscar for best animated feature next month, has grossed more than $730 million worldwide. It's the biggest budget release starring an all-Hispanic cast.

Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, which has grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, did more than any previous Star Wars film to elevate its female characters, and featured the widely hailed breakout star Kelly Marie Tran.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Tuesday by comScore:

  1. Black Panther, Disney, $242,155,680, 4,020 locations, $60,238 average, $242,155,680, 1 week.

  2. Peter Rabbit, Columbia, $23,382,931, 3,725 locations, $6,277 average, $54,355,473, 2 weeks.

  3. Fifty Shades Freed, Universal, $19,439,120, 3,768 locations, $5,159 average, $78,630,575, 2 weeks.

  4. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Columbia, $10,014,906, 2,800 locations, $3,577 average, $379,693,471, 9 weeks.

  5. The 15:17 to Paris, Warner Bros., $8,923,106, 3,042 locations, $2,933 average, $26,670,823, 2 weeks.

  6. The Greatest Showman, 20th Century Fox, $6,527,597, 1,936 locations, $3,372 average, $155,905,953, 9 weeks.

  7. Early Man, Lionsgate, $4,260,148, 2,494 locations, $1,708 average, $4,260,148, 1 week.

  8. Maze Runner: The Death Cure, 20th Century Fox, $3,243,854, 1,892 locations, $1,715 average, $54,723,980, 4 weeks.

  9. Winchester, Lionsgate, $2,619,156, 1,479 locations, $1,771 average, $22,249,335, 3 weeks.

  10. The Post, 20th Century Fox, $2,437,992, 1,050 locations, $2,322 average, $77,047,364, 9 weeks.

  11. Samson, Pure Flix, $2,255,864, 1,249 locations, $1,806 average, $2,255,864, 1 week.

  12. The Shape of Water, Fox Searchlight, $2,055,052, 957 locations, $2,147 average, $53,633,766, 12 weeks.

  13. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Fox Searchlight, $1,895,019, 780 locations, $2,430 average, $48,364,525, 15 weeks.

  14. Darkest Hour, Focus Features, $1,153,160, 602 locations, $1,916 average, $53,394,852, 13 weeks.

  15. I, Tonya, Neon Rated, $1,120,319, 502 locations, $2,232 average, $27,224,441, 11 weeks.

  16. Den of Thieves, STX Entertainment, $1,116,790, 730 locations, $1,530 average, $43,618,720, 5 weeks.

  17. 12 Strong, Warner Bros., $1,108,467, 815 locations, $1,360 average, $44,256,673, 5 weeks.

  18. Hostiles, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, $1,004,135, 767 locations, $1,309 average, $28,480,960, 9 weeks.

  19. Coco, Disney, $908,454, 385 locations, $2,360 average, $207,389,121, 13 weeks.

  20. Phantom Thread, Focus Features, $891,565, 355 locations, $2,511 average, $17,888,189, 8 weeks.

MovieStyle on 02/23/2018

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