Renowned South African actor John Kani has revealed plans to establish a learning space aimed at enhancing the skills and capacities of African youth in the film industry.
Kani, widely recognized for his role as T’Chaka, the father of T’Challa in Black Panther, shared that the initiative will focus on scripting, acting, and directing to nurture talent and foster growth in the African movie industry.
Speaking with Doreen Avio, Kani said: “I am working with the ambassador. We are looking for places to create learning spaces to upskill and upgrade qualities of script writing, acting, directing and producing of African stories.”
He also disclosed his involvement in two significant projects, which will take him back to South Africa, including preparations for the premiere of The Lion King, where he plays a key role.
“I have to complete a movie I am doing in South Africa and then on 9th probably be on the red carpet for the opening of The Lion King. I have been doing it for the past two projects now,” he said.
John Kani is celebrated for his roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther, as well as Rafiki in The Lion King and Colonel Ulenga in Netflix’s Murder Mystery and Murder Mystery 2.
Connie Chiume, a celebrated South African actress known for her role in the Marvel film “Black Panther,” has passed away at the age of 72, her family announced.
Chiume, an award-winning actress, featured prominently in South African television, starring in shows such as “Rhythm City,” “Zone 14,” and “Gomora.”
Originally trained as a teacher, Chiume transitioned into acting and became a beloved figure on South African TV.
She passed away at a hospital in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon, according to a brief statement from her family.
“The Chiume family regrets to inform you of the passing of the internationally acclaimed award-winning actress Connie Chiume,” the statement read.
The family has requested privacy during this challenging time and mentioned that further details would be provided later.
Her son, Nongelo Chiume, informed TV broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that she had been admitted for a “medical procedure” prior to her passing.
For decades, Chiume captivated South African audiences, with SABC News describing her as a “beacon of hope” in their tribute.
She first gained widespread recognition in 1989 with her role in the popular South African series “Inkom’ Edla Yodwa.”
In the 2018 “Black Panther” film, Chiume portrayed Zawavari, a member of the Wakandan Tribal Council. In the 2022 sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” she took over the role of Wakanda’s Elder Statesman from Forest Whitaker’s character, Zuri.
Chiume also gained acclaim for her performance as Sarabi, Simba’s mother, in Beyoncé’s Disney musical film based on “The Lion King.”
Her most recent role was in the film “Heart of the Hunter,” released earlier this year. She also appeared in the TV series “Soon Comes Night” in February.
Throughout her career, Chiume received numerous accolades, including the NTVA Avanti Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role in “Soul City” in 2000, and a South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her portrayal of Stella Moloi in “Zone 14” in 2009.
Tributes have poured in on social media, with fans praising her versatility and the diverse roles she played in South African television.
“Her outstanding work will always be remembered,” the South African government posted on X.
Connie Chiume is survived by her four children, two sons and two daughters.
Taraja Ramsess, the stuntman renowned for his work in “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Endgame,” tragically lost his life in a devastating car crash.
The accident, which occurred on Halloween night on an Interstate in DeKalb County, Georgia, also claimed the lives of three of his children, including an 8-week-old baby.
Ramsess was behind the wheel of a pickup truck, transporting his five children when he turned onto an exit ramp, colliding with a tractor-trailer. Regrettably, Ramsess and three of his children did not survive the accident.
Authorities are currently conducting an investigation into the incident.
As reported by WSB-TV News, Taraja Ramsess was pronounced dead at the accident scene, along with two of his daughters—a 13-year-old and an 8-week-old infant. Tragically, his 10-year-old son, who had been on life support, also succumbed to his injuries later on.
The deaths were confirmed on Instagram by his mom, who wrote, “Kisasi Adebayo joins his father Taraja @chop.saki and sisters Sundari and Fujibo on their journey. May God bless all their souls. You all will be missed.”
Many fans took to the comments section to share their condolences. “No words matter. But somehow I hope you that feel our tears and our prayers. They are with you. Our love is with you,” one user wrote.
Another chimed in, “I’m so sorry Akili, may they all rest in peace and power — sending you and your family so much love”.
While one fan took to the comments section to share their own story. “I don’t know you but I feel your pain! I’ve lost my brother, father and numerous family members,” they wrote, adding, “Your son was a wonderful, talented man and your grandchildren were absolutely brilliant. There are no words anyone could say to help you understand this tragedy or make sense of it.
The comments continued pouring in as they shared their thoughts and prayers.
“Oh, Akili. There simply aren’t any words that can even come close to meaning anything right now. We send our sympathy and love,” one user wrote as another chimed in, “I am deeply sorry for your loss, Akili sending my condolences to you and your family”.
The Black Panther sequel is still raking in some considerable amount of cash as Forbes reports that the Disney movie remained number one on the U.S. box office rankings for the fourth consecutive weekend. Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther: Wakanda Forevertook in $17.6 million over the weekend, per Box Office Mojo.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever features stars such as Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and Angela Bassett reprising their roles. And following its release in November, the movie has so far earned over $393 million in gross revenue from ticket sales in the United States.
Prior to topping the charts for four straight weeks, last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home was the only movie to have attained this feat, per The Hollywood Reporter. Wakanda Forever, which was also originally set to have the late Chadwick Boseman reprising his role as the lead character, is currently among 2022’s top three highest-grossing movies. In its first weekend, the Disney movie took in $181 million locally – making it the second-highest opening weekend for a 2022 project, Forbes reported.
But Wakanda Forever could not better the record set by Black Panther as the 2018 movie earned $202 million during its first weekend. The Chadwick Boseman-starred movie notably grossed $700 million, making it the highest-earning project in 2018.
The other movies that trailed Wakanda Forever on this weekend’s U.S. box office rankings include Violent Night ($13.3 million), Strange World ($4.9 million), The Menu ($3.6 million), and Devotion ($2.8 million).
Following its debut, the Black Panther movies have become more than a work of art, but a movement aligned with black empowerment, black excellence, and unity. This feeling has rolled over from the set to many international stages where important personalities have gestured the Wakanda Forever salute.
Letitia Wright has spoken out after her 2020 vaccinemisinformation controversy was mentioned in an article about how it and Brad Pitt and Will Smith’s “personal baggage” might have an impact on the upcoming slate of Academy Award nominations.
The article in question comes from the Hollywood Reporter and sees Wright’s performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever cited alongside Smith in Emancipation and Pitt in Babylon as being examples of performances attached to “personal controversies” of each respective actor.
Smith, of course, slapped Chris Rock at the prior edition of the Oscars ceremony. In October, Angelina Jolie was reported to have accused Pitt of abuse against her and their children in a court filing.
In Instagram Stories updates on Monday, Wright—who previously apologized for sharing what was widely criticized as an anti-vaccine video—called the decision to include her controversy in a piece about Smith and Pitt “incredibly disrespectful.” She also accused the outlet of having a “personal vendetta” against her.
“How dare you,” she wrote in one post. “You mentioned my name alongside men who have been accused of abuse [and] sexual misconduct. This is vile behavior.” Notably, prior Oscars winners like Roman Polanski and Woody Allen were also mentioned in the THR piece.
In a follow-up post, Wright elaborated further while also noting she was now on “the other side” of her controversy.
“I’ve remained silent as the world told me to kill myself two years ago for a video I posted and [apologized] for,” she said “I kept my head down and focused on my craft.”
See more from Wright, who also briefly addressed the 2020 controversy in a recent Guardian interview (“I have apologized and I have moved on”), below.
Image via Letitia Wright on Instagram
Image via Letitia Wright on Instagram
Among the still-in-progress discourse surrounding 2023 Oscars buzz, Angela Bassett’s performance in the Black Panther sequel has also been mentioned as among those potentially vying for the Best Supporting Actress category.
For a rundown of all the Easter eggs and hidden references you may have missed with your first viewing of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, hit this link. The Ryan Coogler-directed blockbuster is in theaters now.
The Marvel sequel earned $180 million in ticket sales from more than 4,396 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to estimates from The Walt Disney Co. on Sunday, making it the second biggest opening of the year behind “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Overseas, it brought in an additional $150 million from 50 territories, bringing its worldwide total to $330 million.
“Wakanda Forever” was eagerly anticipated by both audiences and exhibitors, who have weathered a slow spell at the box office since the summer movie season ended and there were fewer bigger budget blockbusters in the pipeline. The film got off to a mighty start a bit stronger than even the first film with an $84 million opening day, including $28 million from Thursday previews.
“Some may have hoped for $200 million like the first film, but this is solid,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. “This is the type of movie that theaters really need to drive audiences.”
The first film opened to $202 million in February 2018 and went on to gross over $1.4 billion worldwide, making it one of the highest grossing films of all time and a cultural phenomenon. A sequel was inevitable, and development began soon after with director Ryan Coogler returning, but everything changed after Chadwick Boseman’s unexpected death in August 2020. “Wakanda Forever” became, instead, about the death of Boseman’s King T’Challa/Black Panther, and the grieving kingdom he left behind. Returning actors include Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke and Danai Gurira, who face off against a new foe in Tenoch Huerta’s Namor. The film would face more complications too, including Wright getting injured and some COVID-19 related setbacks. All told, it cost a reported $250 million to make, not accounting for marketing and promotion.
AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote in his review that, “‘Wakanda Forever’ is overlong, a little unwieldy and somewhat mystifyingly steers toward a climax on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic. But Coogler’s fluid command of mixing intimacy with spectacle remains gripping.”
It currently holds an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and, as is often the case with comic book films, the audience scores are even higher.
Superhero films have fared well during the pandemic, but none yet have reached the heights of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which opened to $260.1 million in Dec. 2021. Other big launches include “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($187.4 million in May), “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($144.2 million in July) and “The Batman” ($134 million in March).
“Wakanda Forever” is first film to open over $100 million since “Thor” in July, which has been difficult for exhibitors that are already dealing with a calender that has about 30% fewer wide releases than in a normal year.
Holdovers populated the rest of the top five, as no film dared launch nationwide against a Marvel behemoth. Second place went to the DC superhero “Black Adam,” with $8.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $151.1 million. “Ticket to Paradise” landed in third, in weekend four, with $6.1 million. The Julia Roberts and George Clooney romantic comedy has made nearly $150 million worldwide. “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” and “Smile” rounded out the top five with $3.2 million and $2.3 million, respectively.
Some awards hopefuls have struggled in their expansions lately, but Searchlight Pictures’ “The Banshees of Inisherin,” with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, looks like an exception. The Martin McDonagh film expanded to 960 theaters in its fourth weekend and got seventh place on the charts with $1.7 million, bringing its total to $5.8 million.
“It’s been a very interesting post-summer period for movie theaters, with some gems out there doing well like ‘Ticket to Paradise’ and ‘Smile,’” Dergarabedian said. “But movie theaters can’t survive on non-blockbuster style films. The industry needs more of these.”
After “Black Panther,” the next blockbuster on the schedule is “Avatar: The Way of Water,” arriving Dec. 16.
The weekend wasn’t completely without any other high-profile releases. Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical drama “ The Fabelmans ” opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles with $160,000. Universal and Amblin will roll the film out to more theaters in the coming weeks to build excitement around the likely Oscar-contender. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano play parents to the Spielberg stand-in Sammy Fabelman, who is falling in love with movies and filmmaking as his parents’ marriage crumbles.
“This will be an interesting holiday season,” Dergarabedian said. “I think a lot of the dramas and independent films will have their time to shine over the next couple months.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
How often these days does Hollywood make a sequel to any film that isn’t a cartoon, a horror movie or a CGI-heavy action blockbuster? The answer is: not often at all.
But Knives Out was so ingenious, and its central character was so delightful, that Rian Johnson has written and directed another murder mystery in the same gloriously complicated vein. Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc, the brilliant detective with an extravagant vocabulary and an even more extravagant Southern drawl.
As in Knives Out, he’s sniffing out a killer among a group of wealthy, entitled Americans, but this time the setting is a private Greek island and the suspects (played by Ed Norton, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe and others) have made their millions from tech and social media. BBC Culture’s Caryn James says that “this hugely entertaining follow-up [is] filled with delicious cameos and loaded with more comic moments than the previous film”.
Released in UK and US cinemas on 23 November, and on Netflix internationally on 23 December
(Credit: Warner Bros)
2. Bones and All
Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet, the director and star of Call Me by Your Name, reunite for another tender tale of budding romance, adapted from a novel and set in the 1980s.
But Bones and All is different in one key respect: its young lovers can’t resist eating human flesh. One of them, the 18-year-old Maren (Taylor Russell), thought she was the only person with this unconventional dietary requirement, but as she drives around small-town America, she finds that “eaters” are surprisingly common. Among her cannibalistic new acquaintances are the handsome Lee (Chalamet) and the horribly menacing Sully (Mark Rylance).
“Guadagnino has created an effective and gruesome shocker,” says John Bleasdale at Sight & Sound. “But Bones and All is also the tale of a lost young pair, finding each other and themselves. It is wryly funny, gleefully entertaining and oddly touching. Delicious and nutritious.”
Released internationally on 23 November
(Credit: Alamy)
3. The Fabelmans
Roma, Belfast, The Hand of God… there’s a trend at the moment for films about their directors’ own formative years. The latest example is Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, a tender, autobiographical coming-of-age drama that has been widely tipped as a best picture contender at the Oscars.
Its young hero has been renamed Sammy Fabelman (played by Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, and then by Gabriel LaBelle), but his life story follows Spielberg’s own, as he falls in love with cinema, moves from New Jersey to Arizona to Northern California, and witnesses the marital problems of his father (Paul Dano), a computer engineer, and his mother (Michelle Williams), a pianist.
“This is the movie we’ve been waiting 45 years for him to make,” says David Fear at Rolling Stone. “It’s one man’s thank you to the movies for saving him. And it’s a great American artist utilising his skill as a great storyteller to finally tell his own… It’s one of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things he’s ever done.”
Released on 23 November in the US, 24 November in Portugal, 25 November in Poland and Turkey, and 27 January 2023 in the UK
(Credit: Netflix)
4. The Wonder
In a remote Irish village in 1862, an 11-year-old girl (Kila Lord Cassidy) is said to have survived for months without food, so a sceptical English nurse (Florence Pugh) is sent to observe her.
The local bigwigs (Ciarán Hinds, Toby Jones, Tom Burke) want answers: is she a miracle or a cheat? A mastermind or a pawn in someone else’s game? Adapted from the novel by Emma Donoghue (Room), Sebastián Lelio’s “eerie and unusual period drama is a magnetic and mysterious little marvel rich in atmosphere and allure”, says Benjamin Lee in The Guardian.
But the real miracle in this “incredibly involving” film is Pugh, who is “never less than utterly, mesmerically convincing. She’s so totally in command here that it almost feels as if she’s directing the film from within”. Don’t be surprised if she picks up several best actress nominations this awards season.
Released on 16 November on Netflix
(Credit: Netflix)
5. Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Having won a Golden Globe for playing Lady Diana Spencer in The Crown, Emma Corrin stars as Lady Constance Chatterley in Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s film of DH Lawrence’s groundbreakingly torrid novel. (Is this the kind of book “you would wish your wife or servants to read,” asked the prosecutor in the British obscenity trial of 1960.)
Jack O’Connell co-stars as Oliver Mellors, the rugged gamekeeper who gives the Lady the physical attention she craves after her husband, Sir Clifford (Matthew Duckett), is paralysed from the waist down in World War One. And Joely Richardson, who played Lady Chatterley alongside Sean Bean in a 1993 television series, is Sir Clifford’s nurse, Mrs Bolton.
Tomris Laffly at The Wrap says that the film is “a handsome introduction to this feminine saga of sexual awakening, laced with both something old and something new, and plenty of frank, tastefully choreographed and actually steamy eroticism dearly missed in today’s increasingly sterile mainstream cinema”.
Released in UK cinemas on 25 November, and Netflix internationally on 2 December
(Credit: Searchlight Pictures)
6. The Menu
This month’s other satirical tale of the super-rich getting their comeuppance on a private island (see also: Glass Onion), The Menu features Ralph Fiennes as a devilish celebrity chef who presides over one of the world’s most exclusive restaurants.
Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy play two of the gourmands who have signed up for the $1250-a-head fine-dining experience. But they soon find that while the chef’s “molecular gastronomy” (including a rock covered in bits of seaweed) is not exactly lip-smacking, the way he treats his customers is even worse.
“The rarefied world of haute cuisine is not exactly a hard target to satirise,” says Wendy Ide at Screen Daily, “but this deliciously savage comedy from Succession director Mark Mylod makes every bitter mouthful count. A bracingly spiteful and very funny picture.”
Released internationally on 18 November
(Credit: Amazon Prime)
7. Good Night Oppy
Nasa’s Mars exploration rover, Opportunity, landed on the Red Planet in 2004. It was expected to function for just 90 days, but the solar-powered, remote-controlled robot kept trundling around, analysing minerals, for 15 years.
(Fifteen Earth years, that is, which translates as eight years on Mars.) It’s little wonder that scientists started to see it – or her – less as a machine than as a friendly relative of R2-D2 and Wall-E. Viewers of Ryan White’s documentary might have similar feelings. Alongside Nasa’s own footage, White uses computer-animated sequences to show Oppy’s Martian travels. That means that the “inspirational and wonderfully engaging… Good Night Oppy is more than just a documentary,” says Peter Debruge in Variety. “It’s an animated film as well – and a hugely entertaining one at that.”
Released in UK cinemas on 4 November, and Amazon Prime internationally on 23 November
(Credit: BBC Film/BFI)
8. Aftersun
Charlotte Wells’ debut as a writer-director is one of the most acclaimed films of the year.
Essentially a two-hander, the wistful, intimate Aftersun stars Francesca Corio and Paul Mescal (Normal People) as an 11-year-old girl on a rare holiday with her 30-year-old father in the late 1990s: she still lives with her mother in Scotland while he has moved to England, with no intention of returning. They tour the discos, amusement arcades and karaoke bars of a fading Turkish resort, but it becomes clear that Calum isn’t quite the happy dad he is struggling to be.
“Deftly constructed and utterly heartbreaking,” says Pat Brown at Slant Magazine, “Aftersun announces Wells as an eminent storyteller of prodigious powers.”
Released on 18 November in the UK and Ireland
(Credit: Walt Disney Studios)
9. Strange World
Don Hall and Qui Nguyen, the director and writer of Raya and the Last Dragon, use their latest Disney cartoon to pay homage to the classic science-fiction adventure yarns of Jules Verne and HG Wells: the cartoon’s explorer heroes, voiced by Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union, discover a land of weird and wonderful flora and fauna under the Earth’s surface. But like The Incredibles, among other Disney and Pixar films, Strange World is also about family life. “We know this is about Don [Hall] and his dad,” Nguyen told Jamie Jirak at ComicBook.com, “about his children, and what he thinks is important to the world and what he wants to give to the world as a legacy… it’s our love letter to our kids as both fathers and sons.”
Released internationally on 23 November
(Credit: Walt Disney Studios)
10. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Chadwick Boseman was so revered as King T’Challa of Wakanda, aka Black Panther, that when he died of cancer in August 2020, executives at Marvel Studios knew that they couldn’t recast the part. Instead, Ryan Coogler, the film’s director, made a sequel which pays tribute to Boseman.
In part, the film is about T’Challa’s Wakandan friends and relatives battling the aquatic armies of Namor, the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta). But it is also about a nation grieving for its lost king.
“I dreaded the start of this shoot because I could not imagine how we would proceed without Chadwick,” Lupita Nyong’o told Devan Coggan at Entertainment Weekly. “It was unfathomable to me. But Ryan managed to honour his life and his role in both the film and our lives with his moving, truthful, and clear vision.”
With an Afro-futurism theme, Nollywood stars dressed up taking inspiration from numerous African culture and Black Panther’s fictional Wakanda.
The cast of the Black Panther sequel, including Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta and Director Ryan Coogler, was present at the event.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will hit theatres on November 11.
Guests and actors walk the red carpet of the historic Africa premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in Nigeria.
“The story is Africa, the story even though you know ‘Wakanda’ is a fictional country, we pull from real places in terms of culture that we represent and our inspiration,” says movie director Ryan Coogler.
In anticipation of its release this coming week, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever continued its promotional tour with a historic premiere in Lagos, Nigeriaon Sunday evening.
This was a major event — and the first time a Marvel movie has held a premiere locally — with a large group of talent, filmmakers and press on hand for the black carpet rollout.
The sequel to the $1.348B grossing original pic played across multiple screens at Filmhouse Cinemas IMAX Lekki.
In attendance on Sunday were director Ryan Coogler and stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Winston Duke and Michaela Coel. Producer Nate Moore was also on hand along with soundtrack artists and producers.
The team has been making the rounds, including a world premiere in LA and a European debut at Cineworld Leicester Square in London last week.
The Nigeria premiere was held in association with the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) and FilmOne Entertainment and celebrated the movie’s African heritage.
Chioma Ude, the founder of AFRIFF (which runs from November 6-12 and where Coogler will give a masterclass on Monday), recently reflected on the significance of the African premiere being hosted in Nigeria and its association with the festival.
“We are excited and proud to be a part of the premiere of this milestone film here in Africa. This is huge for the continent of Africa as it symbolizes to us further bridging of the gaps between the global film industries,” she said.
The first Black Panther remains the No. 1 film in both East and West Africa. It had its premiere on the continent in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2018.
Wakanda Forever is distributed in English West African territories by FilmOne Entertainment whose co-founders, Moses Babatope and Kene Okwuosa, said, “Being instrumental to the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in West Africa is a proud achievement and a milestone for us and the entire FilmOne team, it will be celebrated for a long time.”
Wakanda Forever opens in Nigeria on November 11, in step with the U.S. International release begins on November 9 in France among others with global rollout continuing through the weekend.
The 2018 release of Black Panther is one of the most profitable movies of all time. The Marvel Studios production made more than £1bn at the box office.
It was the first superhero film to receive an Oscar nomination for best picture. In total it was nominated seven times, winning three for original score, costume design and production design.
The franchise has been praised for its strong portrayal of black characters.
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, British actress Letitia Wright sparkled on the red carpet
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Florence Kasumba plays Ayo in the film
Returning actress Danai Gurira, who plays Okoye, said she hoped Black Panther “paves the way” for other franchisees to cast strong black female leads.
Director Ryan Coogler came up with a plot that could reflect the 43-year-old’s death which Lupita Nyong’o said would “really resonate with people”.
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Director Ryan Coogler has found a way to continue the franchise without Chadwick Boseman
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Social media superstar Khaby Lame revealed a picture of Boseman beneath his shirt
“Respecting Chadwick and what he started us off is the way forward,” Nyong’o told BBC News. “Ryan was so smart to embrace the loss and make this film about what we do when we lose somebody because we all experience it at one point.
“The honesty with it will surprise people and the fact you can do that without compromising on the fun, and the spectacle, is a feat and I’m really proud.”
The first film starred Boseman as the crime-fighting ruler of Wakanda, a fictional African nation with the most advanced technology on earth.
More than 170 million viewers watched the trailer for its follow-up, Wakanda Forever, in the first 24 hours after its release.
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Stormzy wore a bright pink suit to the premiere
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Oscar-nominated actress and singer Cynthia Erivo was among the other guests
Last week Rihanna released her first single in six years which is taken from the soundtrack of the new film.
Coogler said Rihanna’s involvement in the project was to honour Boseman.
“Honestly, I think it was Chad,” he said. “A lot of improbable things needed to happen for it to come through and Rihanna was very clear that she did that for him.”
Other celebrities at the premiere included Stormzy, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Maya Jama.
The 19-track album is expected to be released on November 14, 2022, and the Black Panther sequel will hit theatres on November 11.
The official soundtrack album has a number of artistes including six Nigerian artistes. Singer and songwriter Rihanna’s new song ‘Lift Me Up’ features on the album.
Burna Boyis featured on track three titled ‘Alone’ while Tems’ version of the Bob Marley classic ‘No Woman No Cry’ is on track four.
Fireboy DML is also on track nine ‘Coming Back For You’. Ckay is featured on track 13 ‘Anya Mmiri’ with British singer-songwriter PinkPantheress.
Nigerian artiste, Bloody Civilian and her colleague Rema, are on track 14 ‘Wake Up’. Rema appears again on track 15 ‘Pantera’ with Mexican artiste Alemán.
Meanwhile, British-Ghanaian rapper Stormzy is also featured on the track.
On October 3, the official trailer for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ was released.
The plot details of the film have largely been kept under wraps but Marvel introduces a new character Namor (who is referred to as “the Feathered Serpent God” by M’Baku) and is seemingly the antagonist in this sequel.
Director Ryan Coogler introduced series newcomers; Tenoch Huerta, who plays the main antagonist Namor, Mabel Cadena, Alex Livinalli, Dominique Thorne, who will debut as the young power-suited hero Ironheart, and Michaela Coel during Marvel’s Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in July.
The sequel will be without the star of the first film, Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 from colon cancer. Coogler returns to direct, additionally co-writing the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is almost upon us. The Ryan Coogler directorial is the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the sequel to 2018’s megahit ‘Black Panther’.
While everything about it should make fans excited, there is an undercurrent of poignance in the fans as well, for the original film’ star Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa or Black Panther, died of colon cancer in 2020.
The sequel will feature a new Black Panther (most likely Shuri). Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, the co-writers of ‘Wakanda Forever’, had already penned a script with Boseman in mind. Coogler revealed its details while speaking to Variety.
He said, “The tone was going to be similar. The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years. As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that’s what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn’t get back. Grief was a big part of it.”
In case you do not know, half of all living beings in the universe were erased from existence by Thanos the Mad Titan, in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.
“Who the protagonist was, the flaws of the protagonist, what the protagonist was dealing with in their journey, all of that stuff had to be different due to us losing him and the decisions that we made about moving forward,” he added.
“Lift Me Up” from the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” soundtrack was released Friday. The song is already a hit with her faithful fan base, known as Rihanna’s Navy.
The singer teased the release of the song on Wednesday. Within an hour of her posting the 14-second teaser, there were more than 70,000 tweets generated about it, according to Twitter.
The new song begins with Rihanna humming the melody before she launches into the emotional lyrics.
“Lift me up/Hold me down/Keep me close/Safe and sound,” she sings. “Burning in a hopeless dream/Hold me when you go to sleep/Keep me in the warmth of your love when you depart/Keep me safe, safe and sound.”
Rihanna also debuted a moving music video for the song on Friday, featuring scenes from the movie.
The song was written by Rihanna, fellow artist Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson and “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler as a tribute to the late “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman.
Boseman died in 2020 at age 43 following a private battle with colon cancer.
There is already plenty of reaction to the song on social media, including one person who threw in a hopeful prediction by tweeting, “just finished listening to rihanna’s future oscar winning song lift me up.”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By” will be released on November 4 and the film hits theaters a week later.
The stars of the highly-anticipated sequel to Marvel’s “Black Panther” walked the red carpet in Hollywood on Wednesday night at the “Wakanda Forever”world premiere but there was one name hugely missed, their late co-star Chadwick Boseman.
The actor, who played the lead, King T’Challa, in the 2018 original, died in 2020 after a four-year battle with colon cancer he had kept private. He was 43.
Cast member Letitia Wright attends a premiere for the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 26, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
“It was definitely tough to go back to a space that you hold so dearly in your heart and are so attached to T’Challa, so attached to Chad,” actress Letitia Wright, who plays T’Challa’s younger sister Princess Shuri, said.
“But we had to just be strong, to follow through on the story and it got emotional at times. It still is, but one that we came together, we worked on. We made him proud.”
“Black Panther”, in which Boseman played the king of the fictional African land of Wakanda, became a global hit and was hailed as a milestone for racial diversity in Hollywood.
Cast member Lupita Nyong’o attends a premiere for the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 26, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Its sequel had been in the works when Boseman died.
“I dreaded it because I couldn’t imagine moving forward without Chadwick,” said Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, who reprises her role as T’Challa’s former lover Nakia.
“But then when Ryan Coogler, our director and writer, walked me through his idea to carry on with the story, I breathed a breath of relief because what he did was he incorporated the loss into the story,” Nyong’o said. “And so as a person and as an actor, I didn’t have to pretend like I hadn’t experienced such a loss, such grief. And it very much makes use of that.”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” sees the protagonists working once again with the Dora Milaje, an elite group of female warriors, as they fight to protect their nation following the king’s death.
Director Ryan Coogler attends a premiere for the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 26, 2022.
It sees actors Angela Bassett and Danai Gurira reprise their roles as T’Challa’s mother Ramonda and Dora Milaje head Okoye, respectively, as well as the arrival of Michaela Coel as Aneka, a Dora Milaje warrior.
The film begins its global cinema roll-out from Nov. 9.
Singer Rihanna and rapper A$AP Rocky attend a premiere for the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 26, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Rihanna has released her first solo single in six years, a song from the upcoming Black Panther sequel’s soundtrack.
Lift Me Up was released on Friday, following the singer’s social media tease of her return to music earlier this week.
The song will be featured in Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is due out in November.
Director Ryan Coogler said Rihanna’s involvement in the project was to honour the late actor Chadwick Boseman.
“Honestly, I think it was Chad,” he said. “A lot of improbable things needed to happen for it to come through and Rihanna was very clear that she did that for him.”
Boseman starred in the first Black Panther film and also appeared in Da 5 Bloods, 21 Bridges, and the James Brown biopic Get On Up.
He died in 2020, four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Last year, Boseman was posthumously nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Coogler added: “We knew [Rihanna] was at a point in her life as well where she was focusing on different things – focused on business, motherhood, which is a big theme in our film. We were holding out hope that maybe it could work out and boy did it for this song.”
Lift Me Up has been co-written by Rihanna, Coogler, and Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, who has previously worked with Drake, Justin Bieber, Future, Wizkid, Beyonce, and Khalid.
The song is produced and co-written by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson, who scored the first Black Panther film as well as Creed, Venom, and Tenet.
It is downtempo but uplifting and sees Rihanna’s distinctive vocals projected over a smooth accompaniment of delicate keys and strings. The singer is accompanied by a subtle backing choir as the atmospheric song builds to its climax.
She sings: “Lift me up, hold me down, keep me close, safe and sound / Hold me when you go to sleep, keep me in the warmth of your love when you depart, keep me safe and sound.”
Fans warmly welcomed the release of the single on social media, with many joking via a string of memes that the song was making them levitate, but others describedit as a “disappointing” comeback and “definitely a movie soundtrack song”.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler said Rihanna wanted to pay tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman with the song
Lift Me Up is the first solo single from Rihanna since the release of her album Anti in 2016.
Since then, she has collaborated with other artists such as PartyNextDoor and N.E.R.D. and appeared on the hugely successful Wild Thoughts alongside DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller.
But the singer has largely stayed quiet on the music front in recent years, as she focused on expanding her fashion, lingerie, skincare, and cosmetics brand Fenty, as well as recently having a baby boy with rapper A$AP Rocky.
She also appeared opposite Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett in 2018’s film Ocean’s 8, an all-female reboot of the Ocean’s 11 franchise.
Rihanna will headline the prestigious half-time show at February’s Super Bowl in Arizona, her first live performance in over five years.
Her involvement in Wakanda Forever will increase fans’ anticipation for the sequel to Black Panther, which was a huge box office success and scored a best picture nomination at the Oscars.
The movie, released on 11 November, will see stars including Letitia Wright and Lupita Nyong’o reprise their roles as the kingdom of Wakanda fights to protect itself from invading forces in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.
We can thank the “Black Panther” sequel for Rihannafinally returning to the world of music.
The “Fenty” founder tweeted Wednesday about her forthcoming single, “Lift Me Up,” which is set to release on Friday.
The original song will be featured on the soundtrack to the new Marvel movie, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The song will mark Rihanna’s first new music as a solo artist in six years.
According to a press release, the tune was written by Rihanna, fellow artist Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson and “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler as a tribute to the late “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman.
Boseman died in 2020 at age 43 following a private battle with colon cancer.
“After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life. I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them,” Tems said in a statement.
“Rihannahas been an inspiration to me so hearing her convey this song is a great honour.”
The song was recorded in five countries and Rihanna sharedonly a snippet of it on social media.
There had been speculation that she would release something new in anticipation of her performance as the headliner for the upcoming Superbowl Halftime Show in February.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By” will be released on November 4. The film hits theatres on November 11.
The premiere in Africa of the much-anticipated sequel to marvel Studios’ Black Panther is expected to be held in Lagos, Nigeria.
The event christened ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ will be held by the Walt Disney Company, in association with Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) and FilmOne Entertainment.
According to a statement by Film One, the premiere will be held in early November ahead of the global release on the 11th day of the same month.
In the statement by Moses Babatope and Kene Okwuosa, Co-founders of FilmOne Entertainment, official distributors of the movie in English West African territories, they noted that, “being instrumental to the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in West Africa is a proud achievement and a milestone for us and the entire FilmOne team, it will be celebrated for a long time.”
The company noted that they are excited to work alongside the Walt Disney Company “to deliver a grand African premiere, even as we channel all our arsenal towards realizing a momentous box-office performance for the title.”
The plot details of the film have largely been kept under wraps but Marvel introduces a new character Namor (who is referred to as “the Feathered Serpent God” by M’Baku) and is seemingly the antagonist in this sequel.
The “Wakanda Forever” cast includes; Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross, all reprising their roles from the first “Black Panther.”
Director Ryan Coogler introduced series newcomers; Tenoch Huerta, who plays the main antagonist Namor, Mabel Cadena, Alex Livinalli, Dominique Thorne, who will debut as the young power-suited hero Ironheart, and Michaela Coel during Marvel’s Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in July.
The sequel will be without the star of the first film, Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 from colon cancer. Coogler returns to direct, additionally co-writing the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole.
In a post shared by the official Vogue account on Twitter, they invited the new month, October with a few pictures from Ghana with Michaela gracing it with extravagance.
Taking a look at Vogue’s official Twitter account, they had changed their cover page to some of Michaela’s pictures shot in the periurban areas of Ghana.
She clad a fur garment with a highly contrasting box strip texture sewn into a two-piece suit with her signature short haircut to complete her looks.
On Vogue magazine’s official issue for this month, the Wakanda warrior had a different picture that saw her takeover their full page with her image strikingly assuming control while wearing a beautiful but simple yellow dress.
The finish touches on the arm area of her glamourous yellow attire were ensembled to look like pink petals.
Michaela had visited Ghana to grace the Global Citizen Festival where Usher and SZA were billed to perform.
During the program, she talked at length about her genealogy and that she is so pleased to be Ghanaian while adding that she can always travel around the world and return to a place she called home ‘Ghana’.
British actress Michaela Coelhas taken her American Vogue cover to the streets of Accra.
Coel, who has been cast in Marvel’s blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is Vogue’s November cover star – and she chose to have the photo shoot in her ancestral home, Ghana, alongside her father, Derek Kwesi Coel, and grandmother Jemima Andam.
She was photographed by Senegalese-Italian model Malick Bodian.
“They asked me where I’d like to shoot it and I thought to myself ‘shoot for the stars aim for the moon’, and I said ‘Ghana’, and they were like ‘sure’.”
Speaking to Vogue about a previous visit to Ghana in 2018, Coel said: “I’d been to Africa before – Kenya and Uganda – but when I came here, I was really seeing people who looked like me.”
“I remember looking at all the kids playing, and it hit me, like, Wow, this could’ve been me and I think I would have really enjoyed that,” she continued.
“Yes, there are a lot of sad things, poverty, unemployment, struggle. There’s also a lot of peace and friendliness. There’s a lack of anxiety.”
In her Vogue interview, Coel also spoke about her upcoming rolein Black Panther where her character falls in love with her warrior colleague, played by Florence Kasumba.
“That sold me on the role, the fact that my character’s queer,” Coel said. “I thought: I like that, I want to show that to Ghana.”
Coel was born and raised in East London after her parents emigrated from Ghana. She is most famous for writing, directing, and starring in the comedy-drama series I May Destroy You.
The new trailer for Marvel’s ‘Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever’, sequel to the 2018 smash hit ‘Black Panther’has been released.
There has been much speculation about who will take on the role of the Black Panther. American actor, Chadwick Boseman, who played the titular role in the original film, died of colon cancer in 2020.
He was the first black actor to headline one of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s films. Plans were quickly put in place for a sequel following the film’s huge success.
But after Boseman’s death, Marvel said that in honour of the actor, it would not recast his role as Wakanda’s king, T’Challa.
‘Who’s the next Black Panther? I can’t tell you. But, I think what we do see is they’re all heroes because they all have to overcome a huge feat, which is the loss of someone incredibly important and central in their lives,’ says actor Winston Duke who plays the role of Lord M’Baku in both films.
‘I think the movie really deals with the fact that we can all be heroes. And in a strange way, art really reflected life with this. The characters in this movie aren’t the only ones that have suffered great loss in the last several years. So, we’re all coming from this macro place of survival,’ he Duke.
The first trailer, released in July, showed the Wakanda nation mourning their king, and T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, holding the Black Panther helmet. In the final minute, we see someone in a Black Panther suit unleashing their claws, leading some fans to speculate that it could be Shuri.
Production of the film wrapped in March after several delays. Many of the original actors are in the sequel, including Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri. Also returning are Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and Angela Bassett.
Marvel Studios has said while it was excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public, Boseman’s death was a great loss and the sequel would pay tribute to the actor.
‘He was one of those people whose presence was quiet but expansive. So, you don’t notice how large of a presence he filled until he’s not there. And that’s something that’s just all throughout this process. So, we’re still all kind of recovering and growing from it, but it’s something special,’ says Duke.
‘Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever’ will be released in the United States on 11 November.
The identity of the new Black Panther has sparked online debate for months with production only confirming no plans to recast Chadwick Boseman’s character.
The new trailer which debuts alongside news of early ticket sales, finally lets fans in on what to expect from the sequel while finally unveiling the identity of the Black Panther, a topic of intense debate these past months.
Watch the trailer:
A few seconds to the end of the trailer shows a female, presumably Letitia Wright’s Shuri donning the Black Panther suit. Marvel’s new poster also spots white dots on the Black Panther mask which bear a striking resemblance to the facial paint worn by Shuri in the first-look teaser.
While the studio is yet to confirm, the teaser is enough to keep fans buzzing in a bid to connect the dots. Since the sequel’s announcement, speculations have been rife about Wright taking on the Black Panther suit.
The British star’s character is T’challa’s tech wiz kid sister and easily fit the bill especially after Marvel confirmed that there were no plans to recast Chadwick Boseman’s character.
Recall that the actor passed on in 2020 from a prolonged battle with cancer. He starred as King T’Challa in the Ryan Cooglar directed film.
In an interview with Empire magazine, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said “It just felt like it was much too soon” to recast the late actor, who died at the age of 43 from colon cancer.
“Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do,” Feige said.”The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And [director] Ryan [Coogler] poured that into the story.”
Boseman’s death came as a shock to many “Black Panther” fans as he had not gone public with his illness. There has been speculation as to how the franchise would handle his passing.
Feige said Coogler and his team got to work figuring out the direction they wanted to take the sequel.
“The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’” Feige told the publication. “And how could the legacy of Chadwick – and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas – continue? That’s what it was all about.”
