Come Friday, February 16, Jamaicans will join the rest of the world in a simultaneous cinematic release of the much-anticipated American superhero film Black Panther. The film is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name.

Palace Amusement Company notes that it excited to bring the project to local audiences at the same time as its international release.

“That we are opening Black Panther on the same day and date with the US is making an impact because of the buzz surrounding the film, but this is not novel — Palace Amusement does this with regularity. We don’t often publicise this but in many instances, depending on the company and the film, we are given the go-ahead to open before the US. Here in Jamaica we open on a Wednesday, they open on a Friday,” Melanie Graham, marketing manager at Palace Amusement told the Jamaica Observer.

“Judging by the response to Black Panther so far, in terms of a premiere and buyouts, we hope the film will do well and have a good run,” she added.

The film is directed by Ryan Coogler from a screenplay by him and Joe Robert Cole, and stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, alongside Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis. In Black Panther, T’Challa returns home as king of Wakanda but finds his sovereignty challenged by a long-time adversary in a conflict that has global consequences.

The film has been breaking records in terms of advance ticket sales. In December 2017, a survey by American ticket sales company Fandango indicated that Black Panther was the second-most anticipated film in 2018 behind Avengers: Infinity War. Fandango reported that its first 24 hours of ticket pre-sales for the film were the largest ever for a Marvel film.

In Jamaica, Palace Amusement is tapping into the pre-sale buzz and has already opened its box office to advance tickets for Black Panther, ahead of next weekend’s opening.