Where the first film was a celebration of black excellence, the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is an elegy for the late Chadwick Boseman. The mood was somber in Atlanta theaters, the closest America has to a Wakanda on Earth (like the original, it was partially filmed here). However, the heavy mood doesn’t seem to be slowing the movement at the box office. Already, Wakanda Forever has earned $28 million in Thursday previews (beating 2018’s opening night mark by $3 million) and is on pace to gross between $175 million and $200 million over its three-day opening weekend, potentially making the biggest film of the year so far. Black Panther was one of the highest-grossing films of all time, grossing $1.3 billion, and became the first superhero film ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It proved that a film about Blacks, Blacks and Blacks could travel the world, while whetting appetites for Crazy Rich Asians, Parasite and other films that double down on cultural specificity. But not without satisfying the devoted fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For Angela Dixon, a 26-year-old Marvel devotee, Avengers: Endgame is the pinnacle. Wakanda Forever is coming. “I definitely thought it would be hard to do this without Chadwick Boseman, but I’ll give them a chance,” he says. “But they did a really good job.” Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther. Photo: Marvel Studios\disney/Allstar Reviews for Wakanda Forever were strong at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes but down from the original’s 96%. Jay Bailey saw an advance screening of the film at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta on Wednesday night and walked away proud again. “Ryan and his team did an amazing job of bridging us in,” he says. “It’s like I’m on a road trip and I have to do a tough right. But the way down is now much clearer.” Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, riding high off the successes of the Rocky postscript Creed and the devastating true story Fruitvale Station, pulled off the seemingly impossible with two hands of stuffing 400 years of Africana studies into a children’s film based on it. in a comic. Wakanda Forever put even more pressure on Coogler to reach himself. “It was a priority for us to make the movie something that could work for audiences as a piece of filmmaking, as a piece of cinema, as a piece of entertainment,” Coogler told Complex. But when Boseman, 43, died suddenly of colon cancer in August 2020, Coogler was not only forced to start from scratch, but without the star and close collaborator who was integral to Coogler’s original vision for the Black Panther franchise. . The original script was sent to Boseman before his death. “I had just finished it,” Coogler said in an interview. “My last conversation with him was to call him and ask him if he wanted to read it before I took notes from the studio. That was the last time we spoke and it was maybe a couple of weeks after I finished.” Ten months later, production was halted after a stunt gone wrong sidelined new star Letitia Wright, who is already suffering from negative press for allegedly waiving Covid vaccines. Letitia Wright, who was sidelined after a stunt gone wrong. Photo: James Gillham/Rex/Shutterstock “It’s definitely triggering to continue to discuss something that’s very close to you and really emotional,” Wright told Variety of a Boseman-less sequel. “But at the same time, we understand the ways in which it could bring healing.” Wakanda Forever pays tribute to Boseman and T’Challa, giving the actors time to process their grief. Meanwhile, the story stays true to the ideals of the original and introduces a whole new world filled with its own super-special culture. There’s a chance that all this heartbreak and personal destruction might be too much for some audiences – especially young people. But Bailey — who, through his startup thinktank, the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, took more than 1,000 kids to see the original film — believes the sequel retained a sense of innocence despite its sadness. “There are still the ships, the man with the flying legs,” he says. “There’s still Riri [played by franchise debutante Dominique Thorne] with her flying suit and her wonder and curiosity. There is still enough imagination.”
