Ryan Coogler shared a heartfelt note thanking Marvel fans for making Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a huge success.
In a post shared on the official Marvel social media accounts, Coogler detailed what the support has meant to him as the sequel’s worldwide gross topped $550 million. “Gratitude. That is the only world that comes to mind for your support of our work on the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” he wrote. “I am filled with it. Thank you. Thank you to the people who bought their tickets early and camped out opening weekend. Thank you to those of you who took their families out—young ones and elders in tow.”
Coogler’s latest Marvel epic was forced to contend with the untimely loss of Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed the titular character in the first film. Instead of taking the easy route in recasting the character, the absence of Boseman hangs heavy over the movie. In his note, Coogler expressed gratitude for audiences who flocked to Wakanda Forever despite its heavier tone and longer running time.
“Our film deals with the inescapable human emotion of grief,” he wrote. “Thank you for opening yourself up to the emotional journey of this film. We made something to honor our friend, who was a giant in our industry, and we also made something to be enjoyed in a theatrical setting with friends, family, and strangers. Something to be quoted and discussed. To be debated. Something to make people both physically and emotionally feel seen. This medium wouldn’t exist without an audience, and I thank you for giving me professional purpose, and an emotional outlet. I look forward to bringing you more stories in the future.”
Following the release of Black Panther in 2018, Coogler shared a similar letter thanking audiences for their overwhelming support. At the time he suggested that he didn’t expect the movie to do as well as it did. It ultimately grossed over $1.38 billion worldwide, making it the sixth highest grossing film of all-time.
The sequel is well on its way to bringing in an impressive gross, too, and has already set the record for the biggest debut in November ever with $180 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend.
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.
The “Black Panther” star died in 2020 at the age of 43 after a private battle with colon cancer.
“It was been the most challenging two years I have ever had in my life,” Ledward Boseman said of how she’s processing the loss of her late husband.
She described how grateful she was to have been by his side, saying she couldn’t “believe that I was so lucky.”
“I can’t believe that I got to love this person and I also got him to love me too,” she told Goldberg.
“The View” moderator asked Ledward Boseman if there had been fear prior to his death over news that had come out that Boseman may have been ill.
“It was Covid when things really started to spiral and that meant that everybody was in their house,” Ledward Boseman said. “And there was no pressure for anyone to go outside. It seemed like ‘Is this a crazy coincidence that we actually get to be inside, we get to be here with family…together.’”
Things have ebbed and flowed since her husband’s passing.
“Some days I’m doing worse than I’m really willing to acknowledge and other days I’m doing better than I feel comfortable admitting,” she said. “The grief really, it moves in.”
Ledward Boseman spoke of keeping her husband’s legacy alive through a scholarship program at his beloved alma mater, Howard University in Washington, DC, which renamed its fine arts program after him.
“Taking this mantel and we are carrying it to as many voices as we can,” she said.
The full interview will air Friday as part of “20/20 Presents Black Panther: In Search of Wakanda.”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is in theaters November 11.
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.
Rihanna dropped her first single in six years on Thursday night: “Lift Me Up,” the first track to emerge from Marvel’s blockbuster sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
The song, a tribute to the life and legacy of Chadwick Boseman, was written by Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, Rihanna, top film composer Ludwig Göransson and director Ryan Coogler.
It is one of two songs from the film, which premieres in theatres on November 11.
Few other details have been released about the song or the soundtrack album that Rihanna is said to be curating in a manner similar to the way Kendrick Lamar helmed the first film’s album.
“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.
“Rihanna has been an inspiration to me so hearing her convey this song is a great honour,” she added.
Rihanna has made just a handful of featured appearances in the years since her last album, 2016’s “Anti” — most notably features on N.E.R.D.’s “Lemon,” which she briefly performed with Pharrell at her Diamond Ball in New York in 2019, Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty” and Future’s “Selfish” — yet in February she will be the halftime performer on the world’s largest stage for a musician, the Super Bowl.
There has been talk for years about her working on two different albums, one a dancehall-leaning set, but she has provided virtually no details and no music has materialized or leaked.
However, her career has expanded far beyond music with her booming cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty and lingerie line Savage x Fenty, which have made her a billionaire.
She also had her first child, a boy, with her partner A$AP Rocky in May.
Along with her Super Bowl performance, Rihanna is prepping for her fourth annual Savage X Fenty fashion show which will feature Anitta, Burna Boy, Don Toliver, and Maxwell as performing artists.
The event will be premiering exclusively via Prime Video with other bold-faced names such as Ángela Aguilar, Avani Gregg, Bella Poarch, Cara Delevingne and more set to make appearances.
Boseman, who played King T’Challa in the original “Black Panther,” died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43. The follow-up film centers on Wakanda’s leaders as they contend with the death of their ruler and fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers. Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke co-star in the film.
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.”
