‘Black Panther’ to Top 2018 as Highest Grossing Domestic Film of the Year

Avengers: Infinity War may have dominated the worldwide box office in 2018, bit it’s not coming out on top in North America. With less than two days left in the year, it’s safe to say the big domestic winner is none other than Black Panther.

“It’s (almost) official: 2018 domestic box office revenue is landing at $11.8B-$11.9B, eclipsing the record set in 2016 with $11.4B,” tweets Pamela McClintock, senior film writer at The Hollywood Reporter. “A final stat will be released early this week. The biggest film of the yr in North America — Ryan Coogler‘s #BlackPanther ($700M).”

While Infinity War managed to take away an impressive $2,048,709,917 worldwide, its $678,815,482 take in North America couldn’t top Black Panther. According to Box Office Mojo, the Ryan Cooler-directed film took in $1,346,913,161 worldwide, but managed a whopping $700,059,566 domestically, which means 52% of the profits came from North America alone.

Domestically, the third place winner of the year was Incredibles 2 ($608,581,744), the fourth spot taken by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($416,769,345), and the fifth by Deadpool 2 ($318,491,426).

Worldwide, the third and fourth places are swapped with Fallen Kingdom taking in a total of $1,304,944,060 and Incredibles 2 earning $1,242,513,600. Deadpool 2 is knocked down to eight place in the worldwide list with $741,547,413 and coming in strong at the fifth spot is Venom with $855,156,907. Currently, Mission: Impossible – Fallout stands in sixth place with $791,017,452 and Aquaman in seventh with $748,785,000. However, with Aquaman still doing well in theaters, there’s a good chance it could rise in the ranks.

Black Panther was released back in February and has become a cultural phenomenon as well as one of the most critically acclaimed superhero movies ever made. In fact, it’s the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to become real Awards Season contender.

The film currently has three Golden Globe nominations, the most impressive being Best Drama Motion Picture. It’s also up for Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson and Best Original Song for Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, Mark Spears, Solana Rowe, and Al Shuckburgh.

Black Panther is also nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

The Marvel film stars Chadwick Boseman in the titular role alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, and Andy Serkis.

Black Panther is currently available for home viewing. Upcoming MCU films include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers: Endgame on April 26, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th, 2019.