Marvel's Black Panther has sunk Titanic, surpassing the James Cameron-helmed film on the domestic charts to rank as the third top-grossing title of all time at the box office.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Black Panther finished Friday with a domestic total of $659.3, just shy of the $659.5 million grossed by Titanic when it released in 1997. By Saturday, the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther will have become the third highest grossing movie of all time in the United States, behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.7 million) and Avatar ($760.5 million), not adjusted for inflation. It's unlikely that Black Panther will catch either of those two films domestically, but this is a massive accomplishment nonetheless as the big-budget blockbuster - which features a virtually all-black cast - has shattered all expectations.
Black Panther also ranks 10th on the all-time global charts, hauling in $1.29 billion at the worldwide box office. It's about $40 million shy of Star Wars: The Last Jedi's $1.33 billion worldwide total.
As impressive as Black Panther's numbers are, the entire box office landscape is about to change again in just a few weeks when Marvel releases Avengers: Infinity War - the ultimate MCU team-up film 10 years in the making. Marvel's big-budget tentpole is tracking for an opening weekend around the $230-$240 million mark and is reportedly receiving the biggest promotional push in Marvel's history.
Of course, however successful Infinity War is at the box office should take nothing away from what Ryan Coogler, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, and everyone else involved in Black Panther have achieved.