Black Panther is ready to rule the weekend box office and it all began with its Thursday previews last night as it grossed $25.2 million.
The Thursday opening numbers, if estimates hold, double the previous February record of $12.7 million, which was racked up by Deadpool. It also stands as the second biggest preview gross for a Marvel title, behind only Avengers: Age of Ultron, which grossed $27.6 million from its previews.
In terms of superhero movies, it’s the best preview gross behind Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight ($30.6 million), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($27.7 million) and the aforementioned Age of Ultron. It surpassed Captain America: Civil War, which took in $25 million in previews.
With preview numbers like this, Black Panther is definitely setting itself up for debuting on the high end of its box office tracking which is as high as $180 million.
