‘Wakanda Forever’ has potential to be even bigger than prequel
‘Black Panther’ sequel could become the biggest film of the year
Four years after the first instalment rocketed to global box office takings of more than $1bn and in the wake of the cinema-business uncertainties of the pandemic, Ryan Coogler’s much anticipated Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever arrives in cinemas across the globe this weekend to begin a new round of box office domination.
The first film opened the doors wide for blockbuster black representation and in the four years since then, the audience for films such as The Harder They Fall and The Woman King has kept that door open and is already showing that it is still very much here for the return of Black Panther, even without star Chadwick Boseman, who died two years ago.
Preticket sales for this weekend’s release raced past the $45m mark earlier this week and analysts are predicting a global box office opening for the latest Marvel Comics Universe (MCU) instalment of more than $365m, which would make it the third biggest opening weekend for a film in the postpandemic blockbuster release hierarchy after the franchise’s other two titles: Spider Man: No Way Home ($568m) and Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($429m).
However, what Coogler and his big-hitting black all-star cast have that their MCU rivals do not is a large, loyal black audience in not just the US and Europe but on the African continent, as evidenced by the deliriously excited responses to premieres held in Lagos and SA this week. Like vibranium, the secret metal that gives the kingdom of Wakanda its power in the world of the comic books, the films continue to shine a light for the continued mainstream popularity of black representation on the biggest of screens and with the accompanying fireworks previously reserved for white superheroes such as Superman and Batman.
The estimates for the film’s opening weekend in the US are as high as $185m-$200m, which would easily catapult the sequel to becoming the biggest film of the year and would demonstrate that unlike the recent DC universe hopeful, the Dwayne Johnson starring Black Adam, which only managed $319m globally after three weeks, Wakanda Forever is not reliant on the huge takings from the increasingly closed off Chinese market to push it into the record books. Wakanda Forever will release in cinemas all over the world except for China and Russia.
Early reviews have been generally positive with critics applauding the way in which Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole have successfully rewritten the sequel to account for Boseman’s death, while also finding space to pay tribute to the actor and his importance in helping the first film to such success.
A sequel without Boseman and one that hopes to mirror the first film’s success as the 14th biggest grossing film in history has a uniquely tough act to follow but at the moment it seems that Coogler and his cast, which includes Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o and Letitia Wright are heading in the right direction, with or without the blessing of critics.
The homage to Boseman that’s built into the story, while genuine and heartfelt, will also no doubt help at the box office, much as the Fast and the Furious franchise’s tribute to its late star Paul Walker in the seventh instalment of that series, pulled at the heartstrings of fans and helped it to strong box office figures back in 2015.
The timing of Wakanda Forever’s release has also been carefully planned to allow it to gain momentum over the key movie business US Thanksgiving holiday weekend on November 24 and you could argue that it’s black positive representation and strong female roles will provide some much needed fantastical relief from the real world anxieties and depression brought on by this week’s midterm elections, in which right-wing Republicans are increasing their foothold in key US legislative bodies. In the wake of the shock of the Supreme Court overruling of Roe v Wade earlier this year, Wakanda Forever’s story focuses on which of the formidable women in the kingdom will take over the reins from Boseman’s T’Challa, and also offers a welcome corrective to a reality in which the struggles in the women’s movement have been drastically set back by Christian conservatives.
While the huge success of the first film came as a shock to many industry pundits and critics who underestimated the hunger of black audiences for the kind of positive role models and superpower black representation that it offered, this time round everyone is keenly aware that Wakanda Forever has the potential to be even bigger than its first iteration and parent company Disney has pulled out all the stops to give the film a massive, glitzy and expensive publicity schedule and ensure that it will play at all its high-end cinema tech offerings, including IMAX, 3D and D Box.
Only standing in the way of the global dominance of its hefty black legends cast and strong positive role-modelling are the blue people of James Cameron’s long awaited Avatar sequel, which Disney is also heavily promoting ahead of its release just before Christmas. The original Avatar is still the biggest grossing film of all time, with grosses of just under $3bn since its release in 2009 but whether Cameron will be able to repeat that success in a world that’s very much more black than white and definitely not as blue remains to be seen. Until then it looks like it may well be Wakanda for now, if not forever.