lj-writes:

I wonder if people realize how IMPOSSIBLE it is that Black Panther beat out The Last Jedi in four-day domestic openings. BP had a February release, one of the worst if not the worst time for a blockbuster movie, as opposed to TLJ’s Christmas release. BP is the only movie among the Top 10 domestic opening weekend record holders to be released in February. The previous highest February opening weekend was Deadpool at $130 million, which BP beat by $70 million. BP also opened at 200 fewer theaters than TLJ, 4,020 to TLJ’s 4,232. In fact, BP opened at the fewest number of theaters among the Top 10 highest opening weekend record holders, and you won’t find a comparable number of theaters until number 18, Furious 7, which opened at 4,004 theaters.

In other words, BP had everything going against it compared to TLJ–bad release date, fewer theaters, lesser known characters from a smaller brand, not a main “storyline” movie like TLJ was, saddled with the conventional wisdom that Black-led movies are niche products without wider appeal. Yet BP went out, beat all projections, and smashed records. The scope of its achievement is staggering at every level.