Marvel's Black Panther opens to box office glory in China with $66.5 million boosting international collections

Black Panther kept up its record-setting ways in global theatres with a phenomenal $66.5 million opening weekend at the Chinese box office.

The film’s opening in China boosted its international takings to $516.6 million, pushing its overall total past the $1 billion mark ($1.078 billion).

Variety reports that Black Panther’s 53% market share in China surpassed the opening weekends in the UK ($55.8 million), South Korea ($42.8 million) and Brazil ($29.6 million).

The Disney owned Marvel superhero collaboration took in an estimated $41.1 million for the three-day weekend. That bumped it up to a domestic total of $562 million in its four weeks out, making it the seventh biggest domestic release ever.

The Marvel film is now the first movie since Star Wars: The Force Awakens to top North American box offices for four consecutive weekends.

Set shortly after Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther shows T’Challa returning home to the isolated, technologically-advanced African nation of Wakanda to become king.

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Black Panther also features Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.

With inputs from agencies