When the sale of Captain America: Civil War began, Marvel fans went crazy booking tickets to watch the epic Captain America v Iron Man showdown. The Avengers loaded movie that saw Marvel superheroes take sides, won the box office with the movie becoming one of the biggest grosser of 2016.
For about two years, Civil War held the record of the highest pre-sale tickets sold in the first 24 hours since the tickets went live, until now. Captain America was defeated by Black Panther as the movie's first 24 hours tickets sale number surpassed Civil War's record to become the biggest first day ticket presale of any Marvel movie, Fandango confirmed.
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This news also comes a day after sexual abuse and harassment accusations against Stan Lee made headlines and the buzz of boycotting Black Panther took over the internet.
Tickets went off the market so quick that leave alone fans, the cast of the February release Lupita Nyong'o couldn't get her hands on the opening night tickets. Tweeting a video of her attempt, the star informed her Twitter fans that she too tried for tickets but failed.
Nyong'o plays Nakia, T'Challa's undercover operative within the Dora Milaje in the movie. Referring to The Hollywood Reporter story about the best-selling movie in terms of presales, the actress tweeted:
"@theblackpanther is @MarvelStudios best-selling movie in terms of presales after JUST 24 HOURS! Don't I know it: I even tried!!!! #Throwback to a video I made last night."
@THR says @theblackpanther is @MarvelStudios best-selling movie in terms of presales after JUST 24 HOURS! Don’t I know it: I even tried!!!! #Throwback to a video I made last night. pic.twitter.com/aoJcdaqfhi
— Lupita Nyong'o (@Lupita_Nyongo) January 10, 2018
Though Black Panther is selling like hot cakes, it is still difficult to say if it will outperform Civil War's opening weekend box office. The Captain America movie opened to a stunning $179 million in the US box office, Box Office Mojo reports.
If Black Panther manages to replicate or even come close to Civil War's collection, the film will set new records for the month of February, beating Deadpool, which currently holds the record with $132.7 million opening weekend collections, Forbes reports.
Similar to Deadpool, Black Panther too has the advantage of a long weekend – President's Day falls on February 19 this year – providing a chance for Black Panther to earn big bucks until Monday night.
Apart from the Deadpool surpass, Black Panther also stands a chance of posting the biggest opening weekend collection before the summer releases begin. W official tracking is yet to begin, Deadline reports that Black Panther is expected to earn at least $80-$85 million over its opening weekend and the numbers could cross the $100 million hurdle.
With Wonder Woman turning out to be surprise hit last year –positive word of mouth being the biggest influence – if Black Panther's reviews are positive, it could also boast the movie and ticket sales.
Black Panther releases on February 16.
