{"id":68044,"date":"2018-02-28T22:05:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T04:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=68044"},"modified":"2018-03-01T12:57:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T18:57:35","slug":"poised-for-the-prowl-black-panthers-box-office-attack-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/poised-for-the-prowl-black-panthers-box-office-attack-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Poised for the prowl: Black Panther’s box office attack continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DeForest Mapp<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Superhero King T\u2019Challa led the multitudes \u00a0to \u201cBlack Panther\u201d for two consecutive weekends. The blockbuster\u00a0topped attendance at any other movie with a\u00a0domestic gross of $400 million and shattered previous\u00a0earnings records for a film that showcased a majority African American cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Panther\u201d made gold for\u00a0a Marvel gamble that debuted on 4,020 screens at midnight, Friday, Feb. 15.\u00a0 Many theaters nationwide sold out screening the film with a production price tag north of $150 million.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Black Panther] was really a story about a family and a monarch that had to make a big decision whether to bring his country into the greater part of the world or not,\u201d said Gary Hardwick, filmmaker of Deliver Us From Eva<\/em> and The Brothers<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cI was really surprised that they went with that story as opposed to all the other things they could have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Panther\u201d brought us to the home of \u00a0King T\u2019Challa, who sought to keep his country cloaked from the outside world.\u00a0 And in doing so, he learned he could never protect those who mattered to him most without building strong alliances.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Chadwick Boseman] was the only choice [for T\u2019Challa],\u201d Marvel President Kevin Feige said during the film\u2019s official press conference held in Beverly Hills, California. \u00a0\u201cWe were sitting around the table.\u00a0 We were coming up for the story for [Captain America] Civil War.\u00a0 Nate Moore, the executive producer, had \u2026 suggested bringing in Black Panther because we were looking for sort of a third party who wouldn\u2019t necessarily side with [Captain America] or side with Iron Man.\u00a0 And almost instantly we all said, \u2018Chadwick.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
King T’Challa’s Royal Talon Fighter, descending upon Wakanda in “Black Panther.” PHOTO: MARVEL STUDIOS\/DISNEY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Director Ryan Coogler subtly tied the film to Oakland, California. Since the actual Black Panther Party \u00a0was founded in Oakland in 1966, the ties between Wakanda (created with special effects) and Oakland were intentional but clever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWakanda was built in a room with Ryan [Coogler] and the incredible design team.\u00a0 And so, to see it alive, it\u2019s almost unimaginable,\u201d said Lupita Nyong\u2019o during the\u00a0press conference for Black Panther.<\/p>\n

Wakanda, on the surface, connected to many rural areas of Africa.\u00a0 But T\u2019Challa took the audience beyond a barrier \u00a0hidden to the naked-eye. \u201cBlack Panther\u201d revealed a sense of community in Wakanda that the regular world may have found inconceivable.\u00a0 Leaving the \u00a0world we know for this imagined world felt real.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that [Black Panther] reveals that there is far greater potential in this world that we sometimes see every day,\u201d said Chicago non-profit executive Ruth-Anne Renaud, 53, after seeing \u201cBlack Panther\u201d at the Arclight Cinema in Chicago with her husband Tom.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lupita Nyong’o, (left), and Chadwick Boseman (right) in “Black Panther.” PHOTO: MARVEL STUDIOS-DISNEY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

King T\u2019Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong\u2019o) shared \u00a0good chemistry but the timeliness and \u00a0the importance of love could have been called into question when Nakia felt the gravity of what was at stake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn African culture, they feel as if there is no king without a queen,\u201d said Angela Bassett, Queen Mother in the film,\u00a0 during Marvel\u2019s press conference of the film.\u00a0 \u201cI was so proud to have my daughter and my son there last night because in their faces, in their spirit\u2026 they were feeling themselves.\u00a0 They stood taller\u201d during the official press conference.<\/p>\n

Simple factors as well as great filmmaking contributed to\u00a0 Black Panther\u2019s \u00a0triumphant success.\u00a0 First, it\u2019s in the Marvel cinematic universe, which has a loyal fan base.\u00a0 Second, African American films have always done well at the box office relative to their \u00a0often modest budgets.\u00a0 African American romantic comedies from 1995 to 2008 had budgets between $6 million and $30 million, while generating total domestic revenues of approximately $1 billion, according to The Numbers<\/a>, Imdb<\/a> and Box Office Mojo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have high expectations [for Black Panther] but I went into it with a very open mind, knowing that it would be different than other Marvel movies and stories, but really not sure what to expect,\u201d said Chicago sales and marketing executive Tom Renaud, after seeing \u201cBlack Panther\u201d at the Arclight Cinema.\u00a0 \u201cSo, I went into it with a very open mind knowing that the production value was going to be very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
King T’Challa \/ Black Panther in “Black Panther.” Photo: \u00a0MARVEL STUDIOS-DISNEY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Add to the \u00a0Marvel-recipe the Disney Co.\u2019s global marketing, its distribution partners and a well-written story.\u00a0 The result was a high-concept superhero who keeps his people safe by literally hiding them from the rest of the world.\u00a0 An intuitive audience used this as an opportunity to explore its curiosity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSky\u2019s the limit now that they\u2019ve brought X-Men and they\u2019ve brought Spiderman back into the [current Marvel] family,\u201d Hardwick said. \u00a0\u201cSo, [Marvel] can do anything now if they wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there was any power to draw from the story of \u201cBlack Panther\u201d it might be for Hollywood executives to exert more commitment \u00a0to connect with segmented audiences.\u00a0 Though \u201cBlack Panther\u201d came from the Marvel universe, there are other science fiction stories to be told.\u00a0 Disney\u2019s \u201cA Wrinkle In Time\u201d is but one due to be released in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake more stories that show the full spectrum of humanity and capability and possibility,\u201d is what Ruth-Anne Renaud said she would say to Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn, if he were standing at the Arclight theater.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Infographic: BLACK PANTHER. Data sources: WSJ<\/a>, Imdb Pro<\/a> and Box Office Mojo.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Photo at top: Chadwick Boseman in “Black Panther.”Photo at top: MARVELSTUDIOS\/DISNEY<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By DeForest Mapp Medill Reports Superhero King T\u2019Challa led the multitudes \u00a0to \u201cBlack Panther\u201d for two consecutive weekends. The blockbuster\u00a0topped attendance at any other movie with a\u00a0domestic gross of $400 million and shattered previous\u00a0earnings records for a film that showcased a majority African American cast. \u201cBlack Panther\u201d made gold for\u00a0a Marvel gamble that debuted on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":463,"featured_media":68051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,28,675,3987],"tags":[905,4072,1038,1446,1780,1962,4073,1531,1626,1447,192,146,4071,171,4070],"class_list":["post-68044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-general-interest","category-social-justice","category-winter-2018","tag-africa","tag-captain-america","tag-disney","tag-film","tag-hollywood","tag-innovation","tag-iron-man","tag-marvel","tag-movies","tag-oscars","tag-promo","tag-race","tag-tchalla","tag-technology","tag-wakanda"],"yoast_head":"\nPoised for the prowl: Black Panther's box office attack continues - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/poised-for-the-prowl-black-panthers-box-office-attack-continues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poised for the prowl: Black Panther's box office attack continues - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By DeForest Mapp Medill Reports Superhero King T\u2019Challa led the multitudes \u00a0to \u201cBlack Panther\u201d for two consecutive weekends. The blockbuster\u00a0topped attendance at any other movie with a\u00a0domestic gross of $400 million and shattered previous\u00a0earnings records for a film that showcased a majority African American cast. \u201cBlack Panther\u201d made gold for\u00a0a Marvel gamble that debuted on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/poised-for-the-prowl-black-panthers-box-office-attack-continues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-01T04:05:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-01T18:57:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/BlackPanther5a68e754c318c-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"936\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"624\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"deforestmapp2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"deforestmapp2018\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/poised-for-the-prowl-black-panthers-box-office-attack-continues\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/poised-for-the-prowl-black-panthers-box-office-attack-continues\/\",\"name\":\"Poised for the prowl: Black Panther's box office attack continues - 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