"Black Panther" is smashing records at the box office following its worldwide premiere. The film's positive reception from critics and fans is being confirmed buy its current dominance of the 2018 box office.
In its opening weekend, the movie grossed an estimated $192-million (~R2.2-billion), and by Monday morning, it has grossed more than $361-million (R4.2-billion) worldwide.
Here are some of the box-office records "Black Panther" has already smashed, and records it is likely to break in coming weeks:
Highest-grossing film by a black director
The film – the first Marvel movie to be directed by an African-American director – represents everything pan-African.
Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler exceeded expectations, producing the highest-grossing film by a black director.
Coogler, who also gave us the boxing classic "Creed" – which also starred Michael B Jordan – surpassed director Felix Gary Gray's "Straight Outta Compton", which grossed $201-million (R2.3-billion).
Fifth-highest box-office weekend
The movie's stupendous opening weekend saw it rake in the fifth-highest opening-weekend box-office of all time.
At an estimated R192-million (R2.2-billion), the movie has already surpassed the likes of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2", "Iron Man 3", "Captain America: Civil War" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron".
The top five highest-grossing opening-weekend films of all time include:
1. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) – $247,966,675 (~R2.9-billion)
2. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017) – $220,009,584 (~R2.6-billion)
3. "Jurassic World" (2015) – $208,806,270 (~R2.43-billion)
4. "The Avengers" (2012) – $207,438,708 (~R2.41-billion)
5. "Black Panther" (2018) – $192,023,000 (~R2.2-billion)
Can 'Black Panther' ultimately break into the top 10 of all time?
The question now is: how close can "Black Panther" get to the highest-grossing films of all time? Judging by the great start it had in its opening weekend, it could very well break the $1-billion (~R12-billion) threshold – which would make it one of the most successful movies in the modern era.
The highest-grossing film of all time is James Cameron's "Avatar" (2009), which grossed almost $2.8-billion (~R32.5-billion)), followed by Cameron's 1997 classic "Titanic", which grossed nearly $2.2-billion (~R25.5-billion).
Here are the five highest-grossing films of all time:
1. "Avatar" (2009) – $2,787,965,087 (~R32.5-billion)
2. "Titanic" (1997) – $2,187,463,944 (~R25.5-billion)
3. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) – $2,068,223,624 (~R24.1-billion)
4. "Jurassic World" (2015) – $1,671,208,000 (~R19.5-billion)
5. "The Avengers" (2012) – $1,518,812,988 (~R17.7-billion)