Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Opens Big at Worldwide Box Office

Surprising few, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is putting up some big numbers at the box office. Through Sunday, the Ryan Coogler picture grossed $330 million across the world in its opening weekend launch, a sum made up of a $180 million domestic haul and an additional $150 million made internationally. Within the United States, the film's $180 million opening set a new record for the biggest opening weekend within the month of November, surpassing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire record ($158 million) set in 2013.

Furthermore, Wakanda Forever's opening weekend sum is the second biggest of the year, only behind Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; that flick opened to $187.4 million. The Black Panther sequel also happened to earn the third-highest opening weekend in the pandemic era, behind Strange and Spider-Man: No Way Home, a co-production between Marvel Studios and Sony.

Will there be a Black Panther 3?

Judging by box office numbers alone, a third film in the Black Panther franchise is a given. That said, both Coogler and Black Panther producer Nate Moore have said they wanted to wait and see how Wakanda Forever fared with audiences before committing to a third film.

"That's a great question. To be honest, this is not me trying to not answer the question," Moore said in a recent chat with Collider. "We really want to see how audiences receive the film, and I think Ryan's really interested to see how the film plays before we decide. There are certainly ideas we've floated around of what a third film could be if we get to make it. But until the movie comes out, we're a bit superstitious in that way. We don't want to count our chickens, because you never know what's going to happen."

Now in theaters, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever follows Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M'Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba) as they fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T'Challa's death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.  It has yet to be seen where the Midnight Angels tie into the story.

Introducing Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livanalli.