By Tom Dever · February 20, 2018
Ho. Ly. S***. You knew Black Panther was going to be a hit. You’d heard people talking about it for weeks. Early reviews were good. Right cast. Right director. Right time. This is a movie wanted—maybe needed—at this point in 2018. But did anyone see the fifth highest opening weekend of all time? OF ALL TIME. Worth noting, it also has an A+ audience CinemaScore. Whatever doubts naysayers or attack fakers had about the appeal, impact and importance of this film have been effectively laid to waste. And if you picked anything other than Black Panther in the The Script Lab Fantasy Movie League, well then, maybe this isn’t for you…
As always, please join us in filling out a weekly Fantasy Movie League bracket with The Script Lab! It’s like Fantasy Football, but for movie lovers. Each week, you can compete with members of The Script Lab staff. Currently, Team “help” is kicking everyone’s butt. The rankings will be included in our Box Office Recap every week!
Practice now, because prizes for the best brackets to come shortly! It’s free, click here to join the fun!
TSL’s FML Leaderboard:
Please note: All box office grosses listed below are domestic.
T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T’Challa’s father’s mistake.
Weekend Gross — $235MM
Gross to Date — $235MM
Director — Ryan Coogler: Ryan Coogler is a director best known for his work on Creed and Fruitvale Station. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Joe Robert Cole: Joe Robert Cole is a screenwriter best known for his work on American Crime Story. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Ryan Coogler: See above. See full bio »
Feature adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s classic tale of a rebellious rabbit trying to sneak into a farmer’s vegetable garden.
Weekend Gross — $23MM
Gross to Date — $54MM
Director — Will Gluck: Will Gluck is a director best known for his work on Easy A and Friends With Benefits. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Rob Lieber: Rob Lieber is a screenwriter best known for his work on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and The Goldbergs. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Will Gluck: See above »
Anastasia and Christian get married, but Jack Hyde continues to threaten their relationship.
Weekend Gross — $19MM
Gross to Date — $79MM
Director — James Foley: James Foley is a director best known for his work on House of Cards. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Niall Leonard: Niall Leonard is a screenwriter best known for his work on the Fifty Shades Trilogy See full bio »
Screenwriter — E.L. James: E.L. James is the author of the novels upon which the series is based.. See full bio »
Four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game, and the only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game.
Weekend Gross — $10MM
Gross to Date — $380MM
Director — Jake Kasdan: Jake Kasdan was born on October 28, 1974 in Detroit, Michigan, USA as Jacob Kasdan. He is a producer and director, known for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Zero Effect (1998) and The TV Set (2006). See full bio »
Screenwriter — Chris McKenna: Chris McKenna is known for his work on Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Community (2009). He is married to Sally Bradford. They have two children. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Erik Sommers: Erik Sommers is a producer and writer, known for Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and The LEGO Batman Movie (2017). See full bio »
Screenwriter — Scott Rosenberg: Scott Rosenberg was born on April 24, 1963 in Needham, Massachusetts, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Beautiful Girls (1996), Con Air (1997) and Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000). See full bio »
Screenwriter — Jeff Pinkner: Jeff Pinkner is a producer and writer, known for Fringe (2008), Alias (2001) and The Dark Tower (2017). See full bio »
Three Americans discover a terrorist plot aboard a train while in France.
Weekend Gross — $9.1MM
Gross to Date — $27MM
Director — Clint Eastwood: Clint Eastwood is an Academy Award-winning Director and Actor best known for his work on Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Dorothy Blyskal: Dorothy Blyskal is a screenwriter best known for her work on Logan and Live By Night. See full bio »
Celebrates the birth of show business, and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Weekend Gross — $6.2MM
Gross to Date — $156MM
Director — Michael Gracey: Michael Gracey is known for his work on The Greatest Showman (2017), Naruto and Ned Kelly (2003). See full bio »
Screenwriter — Jenny Bicks: Jenny Bicks was born on July 30, 1963 in the USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Sex and the City (1998), The Greatest Showman (2017) and Rio 2 (2014). See full bio »
Screenwriter — Bill Condon: Bill Condon was born on October 22, 1955 in New York City, New York, USA as William Patrick Condon. He is a director and writer, known for Kinsey (2004), Dreamgirls (2006) and Gods and Monsters (1998). See full bio »
Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.
Weekend Gross — $4.2MM
Gross to Date — $4.2MM
Director — Nick Park: Nick Park is a director best known for his work on Chicken Run. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Mark Burton: Mark Burton is a screenwriter best known for his work on Shaun the Sheep Movie. See full bio »
Screenwriter — James Higginson: James Higginson is a screenwriter best known for his work on Shaun the Sheep Movie. See full bio »
Young hero Thomas embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the “Flare”.
Weekend Gross — $3.2MM
Gross to Date — $55MM
Director — Wes Ball: Wes Ball is a director best known for his work on The Maze Runner series. See full bio »
Screenwriter — TS Nowlin: TS Nowlin is a screenwriter best known for his work on The Maze Runner series. See full bio »
Screenwriter — James Dashner: James Dashner is the author of the novels upon which the series is based.. See full bio »
Eccentric firearm heiress believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.
Weekend Gross — $2.6MM
Gross to Date — $22MM
Directors — Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig: The Spierig Twins are the German-born Austrian directing team best known for their work on Jigsaw and Daybreakers. See full bio »
Screenwriter — Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig. See above
Screenwriter — Tom Vaughan: Tom Vaughan is a screenwriter best known for his work on Playing House and Unstoppable. See full bio »
A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.
Weekend Gross — $3.6MM
Gross to Date — $73MM
Director — Steven Spielberg. Undoubtedly one of the most influential personalities in the history of film, Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood’s best-known director and certainly one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. Spielberg has countless big-grossing, critically acclaimed credits to his name, as a producer, director and writer. … See full bio »
Screenwriter — Liz Hannah: Liz Hannah is a writer and director, best known for her work on Reign Over Me.
Screenwriter — Josh Singer: Josh Singer is a writer who previously wrote for The West Wing and won an Academy Award for his work on Spotlight.
Tom Dever writes for The Script Lab.
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Info taken from Box Office Mojo and IMDb.
Tom Dever · February 14, 2018
