“Black Panther” has been so successful that it has carried the movie business on its back for the year. So far in 2018, ticket sales from the film are 38% of all domestic box office revenue, based on movies released in 2018. The level is unprecedented.
“Black Panther” ticket sales are just above $614 million, which is even more extraordinary since it has only been in theaters since February 16. Box office sales for the entire industry so far in 2018 are $1.6 billion for movies released this year. The only other film that has broken the $100 million domestic ticket sales level this year is “Peter Rabbit” at $104 million. It was released February 9.
“Black Panther” has pushed Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE: DIS) share of domestic box office through its Buena Vista studio to 32% of the industry total for 2018. That is well ahead of the number two studio by the same measure, as Sony/Columbia ticket sales are just below 15% of the total. In third place, 20th Century Fox has a market share of less than 14%.
Few films since 1982 have taken even 20% of the annual market share at this point of the year, according to Box Office Mojo data. Last year, “Beauty and the Beast” took 20%, which is well above the historic average. The only other movies that took above 20% based on the same measure are “Passion of the Christ” at 23% in 2004, “Pretty Woman” at 22% in 1990 and “Porky’s” at 28% in 1982.
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“Black Panther” has topped the box office for five weeks, and there is a chance that may not end soon. Box Office Mojo says:
While it’s not entirely a sure thing, it appears this is the weekend Black Panther’s reign as king of the weekend box office comes to an end, most likely at the hands of Universal and Legendary’s Pacific Rim Uprising. The sequel arrives on the heels of Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which delivered a lackluster domestic performance in 2013, but thanks, in large part, to the more than $309 million the film grossed overseas a sequel was greenlit as a global play.
The industry’s reliance on “Black Panther” has not ended yet.
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