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Well, Black Panther smashed the worldwide box office records this weekend. Surpassing Deadpool's February record and nipping at the heels of Force Awakens and Last Jedi and the Avengers. It passed Captain America: Civil War. It's a better movie than all of those combined, has more to say, cleaner, and more innovative and creative in places. Also furthers movies in a way they don't.

The Disney-Marvel movie “Black Panther,” which finds the superheroic T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returning to his remote African kingdom to assume the throne, roared into theaters over the weekend as a full-blown cultural event, breaking box office records and shattering a myth about the overseas viability of movies rooted in black culture. Global ticket sales by Monday will total an estimated $387 million, according to comScore.

“Black Panther” instantly became the top-grossing film in history by a black director (Ryan Coogler) and featuring a largely black cast. The previous record-holder was “Straight Outta Compton,” which collected $214 million worldwide in 2015 — over its entire run — after adjusting for inflation.

Analysts had expected “Black Panther” to arrive to about $165 million in North American ticket sales, which would itself have been an astounding result for a release outside the holiday and summer corridors. The previous domestic record-holder for a February release was “Deadpool,” which collected an adjusted $159 million over Presidents’ Day weekend in 2016.

Disney, which supported “Black Panther” with a lavish nine-month marketing campaign, said on Sunday that ticket sales for the film in North America will total roughly $218 million between Friday and Monday. Theaters scrambled to add show times to accommodate crowds; AMC Southlake 24 in suburban Atlanta squeezed in 84 show times on Friday alone. In many cities, moviegoers arrived in outfits inspired by the film.

North American audiences appeared to love “Black Panther” as much as critics, signaling a strong run ahead. The euphorically reviewed film received a rare A-plus grade from ticket buyers in CinemaScore exit polls. Black viewers made up about 37 percent of the domestic turnout, according to PostTrak, fueled by large numbers of church and school groups, not to mention pent-up demand for a superhero film led by black actors.

There was never any doubt that “Black Panther” would rock the North American box office. Kevin Feige, the prodigy who runs Marvel, and Alan F. Horn, Disney’s movie chairman, have delivered one juggernaut after another. Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, took a personal interest in “Black Panther,” approving its $200 million production budget (at least 30 percent more than budgets for other Marvel nonsequels like “Doctor Strange” and “Ant-Man”) despite concern by some at Disney about sales of “Black Panther” toys.

“The concept of an African story, with actors of African descent at the forefront, combined with the scale of modern franchise filmmaking, is something that hasn’t really been seen before,” Mr. Coogler, the director, told The Hollywood Reporter. “You feel like you’re getting the opportunity of seeing something fresh, being a part of something new, which I think all audiences want to experience regardless of whether they are of African descent or not.”

Not sure why German audiences went for Fifty-Shades Freed. Maybe it was by accident? Because apparently one theater in the US accidentally showed the first ten minutes of 50 Shades to an audience who had paid to see The Black Panther -- yeah that went over well, not.

I have had these experiences in theaters before. During "The English Patient" -- that scene where they are twirling around in France looking at the paintings in some room? The highly romantic one? Well, in the middle of it, the soundtrack flipped out, and was replaced with "Pink Panther" music.
My mother and I burst out laughing. This was in the 1990s in Kansas City. The movie was sort of slow, and that actually livened things up a bit. No clue why it won so many awards.

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DW is dead this weekend.

Watching the Olympics, and writing mainly. Have written well over 50 pages to date on new story. It's lead character is an African-American female bomb specialist, who'd wanted to be a doctor, but had a knack for dismantling bombs and was co-opted by the army to do just that. It's a second chance at romance novel, exploring a lot of controversial topics.

Read a few articles that explained why I got so excited about The Black Panther -- it's the first superhero and/or action film that I've seen that presents a positive picture of Africa, and blacks. It's not colorblind casting -- the characters are cast because they are black and/or African. It also has the most complex villain in the Marvelverse and by far the most innovative. And, it subverts various tropes -- the women are shown in warrior and science tech roles, not as just mothers or caregivers. And they kick male ass. But it's not gender blind casting -- they are powerful because they are women. And not just one type of black man or black woman is show-cased.

It's an empowering film for those who have been presented as oppressed or inferior for ages. And it's done in a blockbuster, fun, superhero pic -- where the superhero is the black race, the African race.

Plus the message? It's not that we are better than you are or our tribe is superior, but that we need to build bridges and become one tribe not many tribes. It's not anti-tribalism or preachy in any way, what it does is state we need to share, and embrace our differences and similarities and learn from each others cultures.

I just can't stop thinking about it. It's by far the most interesting and groundbreaking film that I've seen in a long time, and the most positive in its message. I like it a lot better than Get Out and Shape of Water, which says something.

I honestly think everyone should see this film. And I don't tend to think that very often and particularly not with superhero flicks -- because let's face it, they don't work for everyone any more than indie slice of life hyper-realism flicks do.

But this film is important, I think, because it jumps outside the formula and makes us look at what we think we know in another way or rather with new eyes.

At church this morning -- on the sign out front, there was a quote from Marcel Proust...

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

This movie makes you sort of look at superhero films, Africa, race, etc -- with new eyes.