For the first time, black directors have claimed the two top spots at the box office.
Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther made an estimated $41 million this past weekend, pushing the superhero movie past $1 billion at the worldwide box office, according to Box Office Mojo.
Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time debuted at number two bringing in an estimated $33 million.
Coogler becomes the second black director to join the billion-dollar movie club after F. Gary Gray made the list after The Fate of the Furious earned $1.2 billion in 2017.
The Black Panther director penned a heartfelt letter to DuVernay during Wrinkle’s opening day saying he was in awe watching her work on the film.
“I watched closely from across the hall at Disney while working on Black Panther as my big sister inspired her crew with love and navigated the challenges of studio filmmaking, adapting a book that many people called unfilmable into a movie that explodes with hope, with love, and with women warriors. But above all, it’s a film about a little black girl with glasses — like my mom, like my wife, like my big sister Ava — who refuses to accept that her dad is lost.”
DuVernay took to Twitter and acknowledged what a huge weekend it was for both directors.
Pretty much. 👊🏾 https://t.co/NgWlGfIK0f
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) March 11, 2018
