Blockbuster Black Panther may be game changer for US minority artists
THE EPIC box-office debut of Black Panther, the first Marvel superhero movie with an African-American in the title role, will force Hollywood to reassess the work it gives black actors and filmmakers and lead to better roles for minorities and women.
The movie from Walt Disney Co.’s superhero factory opened with estimated weekend sales of $192 million, ComScore, Inc. said Sunday in an e- mail, setting a record for a February opening and likely becoming the biggest movie ever starring a largely black cast. It’s the fifth-biggest open ever in the domestic market and second-biggest for Marvel.
Success breeds success in Hollywood, and the money Black Panther rakes in will almost certainly open the door to more action films with black casts and filmmakers. While Disney hasn’t announced a sequel, one seems likely.
“It is a precedent- setting movie that we hope will create more,” John Fithian, chief executive officer of the National Association of Theater Owners, told Bloomberg TV on Friday. “We really look forward to the day when these aren’t anomalies.”
Disney will follow next month with A Wrinkle in Time, a young adult film with a large, diverse cast from AfricanAmerican director Ava DuVernay, the first woman of color to direct a movie with a budget of $100 million.
Black Panther was also the biggest movie globally over the weekend, taking in $361 million, according to a statement from the studio. It opened in about 70% of the international territories that are slated to show the film, but won’t debut in China, the world’s second biggest market, until March 9.
“If you can have something that authentically is a showcase of the diversity of the world, people will respond favorably to it,” Dave Hollis, president of global distribution at Disney, said in an interview.
The biggest film of the year was Maze Runner: The Death Cure with $ 259.2 million in worldwide sales, according to Box Office Mojo.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, joined by some studios and guilds, has been pressing for more diversity in Hollywood. If there is a sequel to Black Panther, Marvel chief Kevin Feige said in an interview with Variety that he hoped African-American director Ryan Coogler will return.
Disney first announced plans for a Black Panther movie in 2014. The film has received rave reviews, scoring 100% positive ratings from top critics, according to aggregator RottenTomatoes. It cost $200 million to make, not including marketing expenses, according to the studio.
Black Panther tells the story of T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, who fights for control of the kingdom of Wakanda after the death of his father. A Wakandan raised in America, Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan, threatens to overthrow him and seize control over the fictional African nation’s stores of vibranium — a powerful resource that can be fused into clothing and body tissue for super-strength.
The movie “has taken on a life of its own at movie theaters, playing to huge, broad audiences in AMC markets around the country,” Elizabeth Frank, chief content officer at AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., said Sunday in an e- mail. AMC, the biggest US distributor, is adding more showtimes for the film, she said.
With the Monday President’s Day observance, Black Panther has another full day to advance its run. The film is showing in 4,020 locations in the US, many of them multiplexes. The screenings include 3,300 theaters with 3-D, 403 with Imax screens and 665 so-called premium large format screens.
For the extended weekend, Disney raised its sales forecast Saturday to as much as $210 million after boosting the estimate a day earlier to $198 million. Box Office Pro was forecasting revenue of $205 million, while Box Office Mojo predicted $212 million.
The previous sales record for an opening three-day weekend in a February was $132.4 million for Deadpool, a Marvel superhero movie released in 2016 by 21st Century Fox, according to Box Office Mojo. — Bloomberg