“Black Panther” has taken on all comers at the box office and has now done something that no film has been able to do for the past eight years: it is the first film since “Avatar” in 2010 to take the No. 1 spot at the box office for five consecutive weeks.
At a time when studios are putting out major releases throughout the year, it’s much harder for a film to remain atop the charts for more than three weeks in today’s market. Aside from “Avatar” — which was No. 1 for seven straight weeks from mid-December 2009 through the end of January 2010 — all the films that have stayed at No. 1 for five straight weeks or more were released before the turn of the century.
After “Avatar,” the most recent film to five-peat at the box office was “The Sixth Sense” in the summer of 1999. The record for longest No. 1 streak belongs to “Titanic,” which opened in mid-December 1997 and stayed atop the charts for 15 weekends through the end of March 1998. Second on the list is “Beverly Hills Cop” with 13 weekends in 1984-85, followed by “Home Alone” with 12 weekends in 1990-91.
With a total of $605 million, “Black Panther” will pass the $623 million made by “The Avengers” sometime this week, making it the top superhero movie on the domestic charts of all time. At 31 days, it’s the second-fastest film to gross $600 million domestically, sitting only behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”