Disney’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has topped the $700 million mark at the global box office after a little over three full weeks of release. After topping the domestic box office for the fourth weekend in a row, the film has made nearly $394 million stateside, and an additional $339 million from overseas territories, for a global box office haul of $733 million.
By comparison, the first Black Panther had already grossed over $560 million domestically at the same point. A cultural touchstone in many ways, Black Panther concluded its domestic run with $700 million — the sixth-biggest stateside haul of all time — and ended its global run with $1.3 billion. Wakanda Forever isn’t going to come near those totals, but it’s definitely going to overtake fellow 2022 Marvel release Thor: Love and Thunder in the next few days, both domestically ($343 million) and internationally ($760 million). However, the film's chances of outperforming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ $955 million global haul are uncertain at this point.
Crucially, Wakanda Forever isn't playing in China and Russia, where the first film made a combined total of over $120 million. In addition to its path-breaking box office performance, the first Black Panther also earned Marvel Studios its first-ever Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.
In terms of internal Marvel Cinematic Universe rankings, Wakanda Forever has already overtaken The Incredible Hulk ($265 million), Captain America: The First Avenger ($370 million), Eternals ($402 million), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($432 million), Thor ($449 million), and Ant-Man ($518 million) at the global box office. The sequel has also passed the first Iron Man ($585 million), Iron Man 2 ($621 million) Ant-Man and the Wasp ($623 million), Thor: The Dark World ($644 million), Doctor Strange ($676 million) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million worldwide). On a side note, Black Widow made $379 million globally last year, but that film was released day-and-date on the Disney+ streaming service for a premium access fee.
Wakanda Forever had an unusually tumultuous production. Director Ryan Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole were on the verge of finalizing the script when star Chadwick Boseman tragically passed in 2020. Boseman had been privately battling cancer for four years, and the film was subsequently refashioned into a tribute to both him and his iconic character, King T’Challa.
Wakanda Forever stars Letitia Wright as Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Angela Bassett as Queen Mother Ramonda, Mabel Cadena as Namora, Alex Livinalli as Attuma, Martin Freeman as Everett Ross, and Tenoch Huerta Mejía as the villainous Namor. You can watch our interview with Coogler here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.