Black Panther Passes Titanic To Become Third Highest Grossing Movie Ever In U.S.

Wakanda just can’t stop winning. 

Black Panther has surpassed James Cameron’s 1997 Titanic to become the third highest grossing movie ever in the United States.

Ryan Coogler’s little film that could finished Friday with $659.3 million, trailing Titanic by only $.2 million – a number which it has now surpassed according to The Hollywood Reporter. Currently Black Panther trails only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.7 million) and another Cameron flick, Avatar ($760.5 million). All grosses are not adjusted for inflation.

Worldwide the film has grossed $1.29 billion, which now places it in the top 10.

Black Panther’s previous impressive box office benchmark was becoming the highest grossing superhero movie of all time in North America back in March

Earlier that month Black Panther crossed $1 billion in worldwide box office sales, making it the 33rd movie to ever do so, and the fifth within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War). It has now taken in $1.237 billion worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing superhero of all time worldwide behind both Avengers films. 

Black Panther‘s success continues to challenge the myth that non-U.S. audiences have little interest in watching movies featuring predominantly black casts. Black Panther was written and directed by a black man and the cast is almost entirely black, save for the charmingly out-of-place hobbits Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis. 

So while Disney investors and Bob Eiger are usually the only ones cheering on movie’s box office performances, at least this time around fans of comic book movies can point to some social progress as the numbers climb. 

Black Panther 2 is (obviously) a-go and Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, and Winston Duke will all reprise their Black Panther roles in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.