Director Ryan Coogler’s career began in micro-budget indie confines with the 2013 gem Fruitvale Station. Twelve years later, he’s helming the major horror movie tentpole Sinners, which is rolling out to theaters on a tidal wave of acclaimed buzz and images brought to life through deeply precious 70mm filmmaking resources. It’s an incredible leap for the filmmaker, capturing how important Coogler has become in Hollywood. That high stature is possible thanks to a feature Coogler directed five years after Fruitvale Station: 2018’s Black Panther.
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By now, it’s common knowledge that Black Panther was a pop-culture phenomenon that changed movies forever. However, explaining the specific box office records shattered by Coogler’s third directorial effort really puts into perspective why he’s now such an in-demand filmmaking talent. These box office accomplishments truly changed Coogler’s career and all of Hollywood forever – a trend he’s still continuing now, with Sinners.
Black Panther Shattered Box Office Records Right From The Start
Black Panther was released as part of Phase Three in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once this title dropped in February 2018, Phase Three had already delivered five moneymakers, all but one of which had cleared $115+ million on their respective domestic opening weekends. Even with that tremendous track record to live up to, Black Panther immediately shattered all expectations with a $202 million domestic bow. That was the fifth-biggest opening weekend in history up to that point, and by far the largest domestic bow for a title that didn’t open in either May, June, or December.
Black Panther opened in February, a month that had launched Deadpool two years earlier but was mostly known for sleeper hit family films and rom-com smashes. Black Panther, though, had such immense buzz that it performed like a December James Cameron directorial effort. The impressive box office records didn’t stop there, though, as Black Panther’s first seven days of domestic grosses easily broke the record for the biggest first-week gross for an MCU blockbuster.
Audiences kept checking out a once-in-a-lifetime movie event like Black Panther so much that, for weeks on end, no other new movie could hope to dethrone it for the top spot at the box office. Eventually, Black Panther held the number one slot domestically for five consecutive weekends, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since Avatar eight years earlier. Some MCU features, like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, were one-weekend wonders that fell off hard after their first three days of release. Ryan Coogler’s inaugural superhero film, meanwhile, just kept shattering records week in and week out.
[RELATED – Sinners’ 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score Makes It the Highest Rated Vampire Movie Ever]
What Other Box Office Records Belong to Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther?
At the time of its release, Black Panther was the third-highest-grossing movie in history domestically, and the second-biggest movie ever in this territory not directed by James Cameron (only Star Wars: The Force Awakens did better in this department). Until Spider-Man: No Way Home, it was the highest-grossing solo MCU movie, though Black Panther still holds the record for the highest-grossing film released in February. Ryan Coogler’s endeavor inspired other blockbusters like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Sonic the Hedgehog to launch in that same month, but none have come remotely close to surpassing Black Panther’s mighty domestic cume.
The list goes on when it comes to all of the records Black Panther set in its theatrical run. Some of those records were even related to Coogler himself. With Black Panther, he became the first Black filmmaker to helm a movie that cleared $250+ million domestically. The opportunities for Black directors in Hollywood are so sparse that, one year earlier, Get Out became the first title from a Black filmmaker to clear $170+ million domestically. Black Panther, meanwhile, surpassed the likes of Get Out and The Fate of the Furious within its first five days of domestic release!
The biggest movie of 2018 domestically (even above Avengers: Infinity War), Black Panther’s tremendous box office records exemplify how much Wakanda’s first feature-length voyage resonated with people. This blockbuster juggernaut didn’t just do well by MCU standards, it left nearly all other motion pictures in the dust. These achievements are also a testament to the enormous appeal of Coogler’s endless talents as an artist. No wonder Sinners is already a box office and cultural hit.
Black Panther is now streaming on Disney+, Sinners hits theaters on April 18.
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