Reports from ComScore reveal that the February box office cleared the hefty $1 billion mark for the first time ever thanks to, of course, Disney/Marvel’s blockbuster, Black Panther, taking away 43% of all ticket sales in US/Canada, thrusting the total up to $428.8M.

Oddly, the off season has been doing so much better than the highly anticipated Summer – May through Labor Day – season. It seems to always boil down to one giant game changer. Who knew that back in September, It would skyrocket the business to a rocket high of $700M?

The month of February, aside from Black Panther, was also propelled by Universal’s Fifty Shades Freed ($91.7M), Sony Animation’s Peter Rabbit ($73.4M), and the holiday carryovers, Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($47.6M) and 20th Century Fox’s Greatest Showman ($32.7M).

Due to Black Panther‘s success, the 2018 box office for the period of January 1st through March 4th is roaring close to 11% ahead of the same period just a year ago with $2.1 billion. The upcoming Summer doesn’t look to slow business down, but will have to overcompensate for the lacking holiday year-end season, which is absent a Star Wars film, but includes Warner Bros./DC’s highly-anticipated Aquaman.

This weekend, Spring breaks are starting to pile up with 7% K-12 and 17% colleges out, escalating to 18% and 37% by next Monday, looking to jack up those numbers for March.

This February clocked in at +4.6% over January’s $958.3M ticket sales. The previous months clearing the $1 billion mark have been November, with $1.01 billion, while December rang up $1.3 billion.

It’s curious that February 2016 doesn’t rank as the previous box office high for the month after this year. That’s when Deadpool opened making $287.6M of its $363M domestic B.O. over the course of 18 days. February 2016 earned $798M, the third best ever. Surprisingly, February 2012 held the previous high prior to last month with $818.4M propped by three $100M-plus grossing titles: The Vow, Safe House and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. 

Are you surprised that February’s box office hit it out of the park, or did you see this coming all along? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Deadline