Another blockbuster film for Ryan Coogler.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuted with $180 million at the national box office, according to Comscore. It’s the second-highest opening for 2022, right behind another Marvel masterpiece, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The latter opened in May with a $185 million blockbuster.
Overall, the sequel grossed $330 million at the international box office. Meanwhile, the first installment previously broke box office records in 2018, earning $218 million over the weekend.
As a result, it became the highest-grossing superhero film in the US Worldwide. Additionally, it made a gross profit of $1.3 billion.
Wakanda Forever brings most of the original crew and cast with it. Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira and Angela Bassett reprise their roles. The film tells of the Wakandans after the death of King T’Challa (late Chadwick Boseman).
It also introduces a new character, Namor (Tenoch Huerta), from the mythical underwater kingdom of Atlantis. The sequel comes in honor of Boseman, who died of colon cancer in 2020. He was 43.
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Wakanda Forever Treasures Boseman
But Wakanda Forever didn’t recast Boseman. Another character has the Black Panther cape instead.
“It’s my job as a filmmaker to do things that I have personal integrity with,” Coogler said in an interview with EW about paying tribute to the late actor’s legacy.
“If I don’t believe in what I’m doing, I’m going to have a hard time getting other people to do their best work. For them to do their best work, they have to believe in it. At the end of the day, the choices we make have to feel truthful to me.”
He added: “When filmmakers make things that don’t feel truthful to them, you can feel it.”
“And I will argue that those projects don’t have a shot at working.”
Meanwhile, Black Adam remained at the top of the box office for four consecutive weeks in second place. It’s earning an extra $8.6 million. Another week took the superhero film’s total to $151 million.
In third place is Ticket to Paradise, drawing in an additional $6.1 million. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and Smile completed the top 5. The former earned an extra $3.2 million while the latter $2.3.
Film Success
Black Panther is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Furthermore, it is the 18th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film follows T’Challa taking over the kingdom of Wakanda after his father’s death. However, Killmonger (Jordan) challenges him. The Killmonger wants to leave the country’s isolation policies behind and start a revolution.
In 1992, Wesley Snipes wanted to produce a Black Panther movie. However, the project did not pull through. And in September 2005, Marvels Studios added a Black Panther film to the roster of ten movies inspired by Marvel characters.
The studio hired Mark Bailey to write a script in January 2011. And in 2014, Black Panther was finally announced. Boseman then appeared as the character in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.
Additionally, the film marks the first time Marvel Studios installed a Black director and a Black cast.
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