2018 has been a record-setting year at the box office, no question. Granted, most of the damage done at the ticket booth can be attributed to Avengers: Infinity War, with the Anthony and Joe Russo-directed blockbuster reaching the pinnacle of its theatrical run just last week, when it conquered the elusive $2 billion mark worldwide – a feat only ever achieved thrice before: Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.068B), Titanic ($2.187B) and Avatar ($2.788B).
However, for all of the box office glory bestowed upon the nineteenth MCU entry, which we conveniently laid out for you earlier this week, Infinity War wasn’t able to best the domestic gross of Black Panther. The Ryan Coogler-directed blockbuster muscled its way to nearly $700 million stateside, and over $1.3 billion globally, not to mention the overwhelming pop culture success. Case in point: “Wakanda Forever!”
Although, according to Michael B. Jordan, portrayer of Erik Killmonger, the trademark phrase of the Wakandian people is getting on the last nerve of King T’Challa. At the MTV Movie & TV Awards this weekend, while accepting the statuette for Best Villain, Jordan, on behalf of the Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman, had a little message for fans, saying:
“One more thing. Chadwick Boseman, he personally asked me to ask y’all to stop asking him to say ‘Wakanda Forever’ out on the streets. Y’all taking the forever thing a little too seriously.”
Given how insanely popular Black Panther is, I would imagine being the titular star would get a tad trying, especially when every fan that catches you on the street can’t help shouting “Wakanda Forever!” Regardless, Jordan and Boseman, who won the award for Best Hero earlier in the night, seemed to have a nice laugh about it during the former’s acceptance speech. That’s a good thing, too, as seeing how ingrained the movie is in pop culture, it doesn’t look like that phrase will be going anywhere anytime soon.
