Black Panther is most tweeted about movie ever

Superhero blockbuster Black Panther has become Twitter's most-mentioned movie ever.

The Marvel smash hit, starring Chadwick Boseman as the titular character, was tweeted about more than 35 million times, according to social media figures released on Tuesday (20Mar18).

That means Black Panther was more popular online than Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which previously held the title following its release in late 2015.

The most recent instalment of the sci-fi franchise, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is currently ranked third.

According to Twitter analysts, the most tweets about Black Panther originated in the U.S., while fans in the U.K. and Thailand came second and third, respectively.

Black Panther has continued to break box office records since its release last month (Mar18), and has just secured its fifth straight week atop the North American chart - the first film to do so since Avatar in 2009. Its global gross has only continued to grow, earning more than $1.2 billion to date.

Meanwhile, Marvel officials are planning to further cash in on the Black Panther craze by launching a comic book spin-off for the Dora Milaje, the all-female, shaven, tattooed army for the fictional African nation of Wakanda.

The three-part series, titled Wakanda Forever, will give the special forces group leader Okoye, and fellow warriors Ayo, and Aneka, their own story arcs and will be written by Black Panther: Long Live the King author Nnedi Okorafor.

Okoye was portrayed onscreen by The Walking Dead star Danai Gurira, while actress Florence Kasumba played Ayo. Aneka wasn't featured in director Ryan Coogler's movie.