Ryan Coogler is on the up and up.
Following the back-to-back success of Fruitvale Station and Creed – two hard-hitting dramas featuring Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four), who has collaborated with Coogler a third time in order to play the villainous Erik Killmonger – the filmmaker has taken the plunge into Hollywood’s thriving superhero scene. And it looks like his first venture will be one to remember.
That’s right, Black Panther has generated a metric ton of buzz in anticipation of its theatrical debut, and just yesterday, we caught wind of the film’s box office projections – a $100M-$120M four-day weekend in North America, placing it just behind Thor: Ragnarok.
Marvel’s first mainstream black superhero movie has all the makings of a sure-fire hit, then, and according to Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa), that pre-release excitement can be traced back to Coogler, whom he describes as someone who is easy to collaborate with.
Have you ever dated somebody, and somebody was like, ‘you’re really going to like this person’? It’s kind of like that. So we have very similar views about what things should be like. And the things that we usually have a difference of opinion about, it’s so minor what those differences are. I think it’s more of a growth because there’s nobody battling you. We’re constantly building on each other, so it’s been a good marriage so far.
Those comments, which were relayed to us by ComicBook.com, emerged online on Thursday, when Marvel lifted its official preview embargo for Black Panther – expect the first reviews to claw onto the interwebs on February 6th – a film that has since been described as a different breed of superhero movie.
There have been a lot of superhero movies made. As a comic book and superhero film fan myself, I feel like we’ve seen a lot at this point. I think that the cultural element of [Black Panther] — and how cultural specificity takes such a big role in the film — that’s what makes it quite unique.
At long last, Black Panther is prepped and ready for its theatrical launch. February 16th is the date for your diaries, folks, and though it’s inexplicably tied to Infinity War and the overarching MCU, it isn’t necessarily beholden to Joe and Anthony Russo’s Marvel event film. It will, however, herald the first full-length trailer for Deadpool 2.
