Marvel Studios' Black Panther sequel, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," has earned $181 million domestically and over $331 million worldwide over five days.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" set a record for the highest-grossing November release of all time, surpassing "Frozen 2" (2019) and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013).

The opening release was smaller than the first film's opening weekend, which earned just over $200 million in 2018. However, for a sequel film, particularly one that lost its main actor Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in 2020, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" did better than box office experts expected.

Marvel Studios is confident that the sequel will surpass $1 billion like its predecessor, which totaled $1.3 billion in box office earnings.

The new Black Panther film has an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 67 rating on MetaCritic. Both sites gave the first film higher scores.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is not expected to be released in China, where its predecessor earned $100 million, making the $1 billion milestone more difficult to achieve.

"Spiderman: No Way Home" is the only Marvel Studios Phase 4 film to reach $1 billion.

The new Black Panther film could help spark a comeback for movie theaters, which are on pace for as much as $8 billion in ticket sales in 2022. The numbers are still below 2019, which exceeded $11 billion.