According to hollywoodreporter.com, the follow-up to the first Black Panther film, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in and bringing great news after a troublesome fall. The Marvel Studios and Disney movie projections are expecting at least $175 million in its opening over the November 11-13th weekend, according to sources with access to NRG tracking data that was released on Thursday morning. The number could even grow larger as the final media push is made.
Coogler’s Black Panther made history when it debuted to $202 million domestically in February of 2018. The film was Marvel’s first to include a predominantly Black cast and became a cultural phenomenon as it earned more than $1.34 billion at the worldwide box office. Whatever the film ends up making, comparisons will be rough as the box office is still finding its footing from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sequel faces its own tragedy when Chadwick Boseman, who played the role of T’Challa/Black Panther in the 2018 film, passed away in August 2020 after being diagnosed with cancer. Wakanda Forever‘s cast includes Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba and Martin Freeman, as well as Marvel newcomer Tenoch Huerta as Namor and Dominique Thorne as the hero Riri Williams.
Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home opened to $260.1 million in December 2021. Other box office highlights include Marvel/Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opened to $187.4 million in early May of this year. Thor: Love and Thunder scored $144.2 million in July, And in March 2022, DC and Warner Bros.’ The Batman flew to $134 million in its launch. The only other titles to cross $100 million in their domestic openings since the pandemic were Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion ($145 million) and Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick at $126.7 million.
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