The newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is quickly—very quickly—becoming its most lucrative. Black Panther‘s opening weekend in the US and Canada in February was the fifth-largest domestic debut ever. And now, after only 17 days of being in theaters, it is already the 10th-highest-grossing film ever in North America.
Variety reports today that the Disney-Marvel film has topped $501.1 million, making it the second-highest grossing Marvel film of all time at the domestic box office (only needing to surpass the 2012 blockbuster The Avengers, which brought in $623 million) and giving it a fair shot at soaring past other giants on the list, like Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Titantic. According to Box Office Mojo, the top 10 currently stand as such:
Black Panther, which premiered Feb. 16 to no small amount of pre-release anticipation, is being lauded by critics for its representation of black characters and talent both on- and off-camera. Its particular timeliness—dropping into theaters at a moment when America’s racial tensions have intensified in the Donald Trump era—is also, no doubt, helping its boom at the box office. Black activists are using the film to anchor a political movement, too: An initiative called #WakandaTheVote is using screenings of the film to push for nationwide voter registration.