Black Panther on track for huge opening weekend at the US Box Office, previews match Civil War

The Ryan Coogler-directed film has already grossed big numbers in the UK

(Marvel / Disney)

Following rave-reviews and ample amounts of hype, Black Panther has finally arrived in cinemas across the UK and US, bringing Wakanda to the world.

Hollywood trades are predicting huge numbers for the Marvel movie, Variety forecasting a huge $170 million (£120 million) opening weekend over President’s Day.

With Thursday pre-sales having almost been finalised, Deadline reports that Ryan Coogler’s movie will clear $25 million (£17.69 million), matching Captain America: Civil War as the second best Marvel preview, only behind Avengers: Age of Ultron at $27.6 million (£19.53 million).

Ticket seller Fandango also has some great news for Marvel: Black Panther has become the fourth-biggest pre-seller of all time, only behind the recent Star Wars movies The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rogue One.

Disney reported the movie took £2.67 million on opening day (13 February) in the UK, beating Thor: Ragnarok and the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring Doctor Strange. Deadline reports Black Panther’s total has since reached £5.1 million and will only increase drastically over the weekend.

Korea has also been a good market for Black Panther, managed £3.33 million, becoming the second highest-grossing opening of any Marvel film, behind only Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Meanwhile, for those who have seen Black Panther, read our analysis of the post-credits scenes here, plus Coogler breaks down his afrofuturist influences here.