After years of growing frustration and mounting pressure among fans desperate for a standalone Black Widow pic, “Black Widow” has finally arrived, and box office receipts prove that there was always a market for the highly anticipated Scarlett Johansson-starrer. Cate Shortland’s “Black Widow” debuted at #1 on opening weekend, scoring $80 million at the domestic box office, marking the largest domestic box office opening in the COVID-19 era and the largest domestic opening weekend since 2019’s “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.” A press release from Marvel announced the news.

Overall, the film earned an estimated $215 globally, including $78 million at the international box office and over $60 million via Disney+ Premier Access. “The combined theatrical and Disney+ Premier Access opening makes ‘Black Widow’ the only film to surpass $100M in domestic consumer spend on opening weekend since the start of the pandemic,” the release details. “It is the highest domestic opening weekend for a Marvel Cinematic Universe origin story after ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Captain Marvel.'”

Set between the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Black Widow” sees Natasha/Black Widow returning to Russia and reconciling with her past. Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz co-star.

“Black Widow” marks the first MCU movie helmed solely by a woman — 2019’s “Captain Marvel” was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long for more women-directed Marvel offerings: Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals” hits theaters this November and Nia DaCosta’s “Captain Marvel” sequel is expected next year.

“Berlin Syndrome,” “Lore,” and episodes of “SMILF” are among Shortland’s previous credits.