Black Panther is set to be one of the most successful Marvel movies of all time judging by its record-breaking ticket presales.
Fandango reported that in its first 24 hours alone, the film sold more advance tickets than any other Marvel film, overtaking Captain America: Civil War, which had held the record since 2016.
Results from a Fandango user survey also showed that _Black Panthe_r star Chadwick Boseman is the most-anticipated standalone movie superhero. And with an incredible cast including Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Forrest Whitaker and Martin Freeman, to name a few, it’s no surprise that the hype has been building.
The first full trailer for the film was viewed 89 million times in its first 24 hours alone, and Twitter revealed that Black Panther was the ninth most tweeted about film of 2017 (it was the only one on the list that hadn’t even been released yet). Kendrick Lamar also added to the social media excitement when he announced that he produced the soundtrack for the film. Basically, the hype has been real, and with pretty good reason.
Black Panther will also be Marvel’s first film to be led by a person of colour. Considering that the first Avengers film featured an all-white superhero gang with one female member, this is a much-needed step towards diversification in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that movie-goers want better representation in superhero films after the box office success that was DC’s Wonder Woman (Marvel, take note). But if anyone needs further proof of what audience’s want, then just let those record-breaking presales do the talking.
Black Panther will be released in the UK on 12 February.
Follow Annie Simon on Twitter: @annieasimon
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.