Black Panther: Wakanda Forever sees strong advance ticket sales—but not as strong as Doctor Strange
The sequel to 2018's Black Panther currently has $45 million in advance sales, 20% behind the Sam Raimi superhero feature
Though the anticipated Marvel sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is expected to absolutely demolish the holiday box office (sorry to any Black Adam heads out there), advance sales for the film show it behind another 2022 MCU entry. According to Deadline, the Ryan Coogler-directed film holds $45 million in advance tickets through Sunday, making it about 20% behind Doctor Stranger In The Multiverse Of Madness at around the same point in time, which had $85 million in advance sales.
If we break this down in comparison to the other MCU film from this year, Thor: Love & Thunder (which amassed $48 million by its Thursday preview showings), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still ahead as ticket sales after Sunday aren’t being accounted for. In contrast, the original Black Panther held $55 million in advance tickets before going on to earn $202 million during its opening weekend.
If these numbers may make you think that the film will barely earn its projected opening of $175 million to $185 million, think again. Reminder: this is coming out just before the Thanksgiving holidays, when many kids will be out of school for a week and last-minute ticket buying will be happening, especially with family in town and people needing something to do. As Deadline points out, advance ticket sales don’t appear to be overwhelming for opening night, but instead are pretty evenly spread throughout the holiday weekend, as Veterans’ Day gives many people this Friday off.
There’s also the fact that this has been a movie that MCU fans have been eagerly waiting for, with the tear-jerker San Diego Comic-Con trailer standing at a whopping 31 million views on Marvel’s YouTube channel currently. Another important thing to note is that the first Black Panther film became a blockbuster hit, going on to become the third-highest-grossing MCU entry with $700 million, behind box office heavy hitters Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Endgame.
We’ll see how many records will be broken when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premieres in theaters Friday, November 11.