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“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hit theaters over the weekend, and fans have swarmed their local theaters to see one of history’s biggest box office films. Since its release, we discovered a few of the film’s director Ryan Coogler’s firsts upon filming. Check it out inside.
It is not easy to create a sequel to any film, but especially the Black Panther franchise after losing its beloved star and the original Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman. There is a lot to be said about the long-awaited film, but we won’t share any spoilers. We will say that the entire cast and crew of the film served its fans well, and you should run, not walk, to see this highly anticipated sequel. Fans are sharing their love for Wakanda Forever online, and the statistics also prove that this is a historical film.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” scored a $180 million opening weekend. It’s the biggest November opening ever. The epic movie is also the second best opening of the year. The statistics keep getting better because it’s also the top 15 biggest openings ever, landing at No. 13. It’s the fourth best opening for a solo Marvel Cinematic Universe hero title, and numbers reached upward $330 million worldwide for the film’s opening weekend.
After four long years, Coogler reflects on losing his dear friend and partner Boseman, pushing forward despite their sudden loss and learning new skills to pull this extraordinary film off.
This entire process was an unimaginable, new experience for the entire cast and crew, but especially for Coolger. One of his firsts was becoming the first Black director with two films in the Top 15 biggest openings ever. He is the first solo director with back-to-back oepnings of $180 million. His first four films as a director are Certified Fresh via Rotten Tomatoes with scores of 94 percent, 95 percent, 96 percent and 84 percent.
Another interesting first we found about the filming of Black Panther’s sequel is that because the movie was filmed a great deal underwater, Coogler and some of the cast had to gain new swim skills.
In a recent Variety article, Coolger shares that he was not a natural born swimmer.
“A lot of us were raised to have fear of water,” he shares in the article, alluding to Black people’s historical fear of water. “If the camera’s in the water, actors are in the water, I’ve got to be in there too.”
He goes on to say, “I had to figure out how to swim, so I could direct this movie.”
Kudos to the strength, dedication and fearlessness Coolger and his team had to embody to create such a legendary film. Be sure to catch “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in theaters now.
A Few of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Director Ryan Coogler’s Firsts was originally published on globalgrind.com
