The Black Panther Release Could Be as Important as It Is Profitable

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black panther movie - The Black Panther Release Could Be as Important as It Is Profitable

Source: imdb.com

Black Panther’s release is this weekend and box office forecasts keep getting higher. As of Monday, estimates for the Walt Disney Co’s (NYSE:DIS) Marvel movie’s opening weekend had hit $165 million. This would beat the record for February openings set by Deadpool in 2016. Hitting forecasts would also put the Black Panther movie in the top five for all Marvel movie openings.

Black Panther takes place in the fictional African nation of Wakanda. T’Challa played by Chadwick Boseman returns home after his father’s death to assume the throne of the technologically advanced Wakanda and become the Black Panther. He finds his position — and the fate of his nation — challenged by powerful enemies.

The movie’s almost entirely black cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Angela Basset and Forest Whitaker. Director Ryan Coogler and his cowriter Joe Robert Cole are also both black. This makes Black Panther a hugely important movie regarding minority representation in Hollywood.

Black Panther joins Wonder Woman in challenging the prevailing notion that big-budget movies that aren’t dominated by white, male actors aren’t as profitable or popular.

Jonathan Cohen, principal brand analyst at Amobee, said:

“Much like ‘Wonder Women’ before it, ‘Black Panther’ allows a segment of the audience that had previously been woefully underrepresented on-screen to finally see themselves front and center in a superhero movie.”

Critic Reviews Ahead of Black Panther Release

In addition to being an important movie, early reviews indicate that Black Panther is also a good movie.

Black Panther currently has a 97% Fresh Rating with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Odie Henderson of rogerebert.com says that the film, “transcends the superhero genre to emerge as an epic of operatic proportions,” and that the hallmark-battle scenes are present but that they “float on the surface of a deep ocean of character development and attention to details both grandiose and minute.”

He also praises the cinematography and costumes, which is a common compliment among reviewers with The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday saying:

“Drawing on elements from African history and tribal culture, as well as contemporary and forward-looking flourishes, “Black Panther” pulses with color, vibrancy and layered textural beauty, from the beadwork and textiles of Ruth Carter’s spectacular costumes and Hannah Beachler’s warm, dazzlingly eye-catching production design to hairstyles, tattoos and scarifications that feel both ancient and novel.”

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune says: “May Marvel learn its lesson from ‘Black Panther’: When a movie like this ends up feeling both personal and vital, you’ve done something right.”

Ultimately, the achievement of minority representation and a great movie go hand in hand.

According to Manohla Dargis of the NY Times:

“Race matters in “Black Panther” and it matters deeply, not in terms of Manichaean good guys and bad but as a means to explore larger human concerns about the past, the present and the uses and abuses of power. That alone makes it more thoughtful about how the world works than a lot of mainstream movies.”

Black Panther is now showing, and many theaters are already sold out.

As of this writing, Regina Borsellino did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/02/weekly-box-office-black-panther-release/.

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