If a movie makes $242 million on opening week and nobody talks about it does it make a sound?

nighttimer · Feb 21, 2018

...short answer? Hell yeah, you betta bet yo' ass it does. :e2moon:

Proof.

The King of Wakanda is still conquering the box office.

“Black Panther” made an astounding $242 million domestically over the Presidents Day weekend. Not only did this number clobber its estimate of $165 million, but it makes the film the second-highest four-day opening in movie history, just after “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($288 million).

The superhero movie that premiered in the middle of Black History Month has a black director (Ryan Coogler) and an almost entirely black cast. It also made $426 million worldwide and has yet to premiere in several major markets.

And “Black Panther” has hit other high marks as well.

According to Box Office Mojo, the opening of “Black Panther” is the fifth-largest of all time. The site also says that it is the new record holder for largest February opening weekend ($202,003,951), the largest winter season opening weekend ($202,003,951), the largest Presidents Day weekend opening and the largest Thursday preview gross in the month of February ($25.2 million) — robbing the previous title holder, “Deadpool,” of all four honors.

It’s the highest Monday and second-highest-grossing Sunday opening in history. It also snagged the honor of the second-highest-grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a Tuesday, according to Variety.

It also has the best Rotten Tomatoes score (Certified Fresh at 97 percent) of any Marvel Cinematic Universe film or superhero movie in history, according to Marvel.

It is also the biggest global debut for a predominantly black cast, taking the title from 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton,” per BuzzFeed. It’s also the biggest domestic opening in history for a black director, according to Forbes.

Anybody see it? Anybody not named me? :rolleyes

buz · Feb 21, 2018

It was awesome.

lizmonster · Feb 21, 2018

I'm seeing lots of people talking about it, but then again, I tend to get my news via buddies on Twitter.

We hate crowds, so we never hit opening weekend for a big film. But I may have to wait a long time if I'm going to avoid crowds on this one.

Thinking maybe this weekend or the one after. I have a feeling it'll be at the box office for a nice long time.

Cyia · Feb 21, 2018

I kinda went on a Twitter run for this one, so I'm gonna say it here, too:

Firmly in the "as good as you've heard" camp. Plenty of people with better perspective than me have weighed in on the significance of the ingredients that made this movie so good, so I would like to highlight how absolutely brilliant the design of the city and the tech is. The costumes are great, too, but there is so much unspoken history and world-building in the construction of the architecture and texture that Wakanda herself is a character. She speaks flawlessly, and sets the scene without having to hear the accents used by the actors. The city is shiny, but it's also lived in and wrapped around. It's a near-perfect CGI construct. Unobtrusive, yet vital, like the musical score. The detail makes my inner nerd do a very embarrassing dance. I love that they went so far as to make the ships' levitation engines look like cats' eyes when they're hovering as people disembark.

I went to the first show in the premium XD theater. I've used that theater before, and given my previous experience, plus the demographics of the town involved (my hometown is on record as the last district to desegregate), and I didn't expect a crowd. The ENTIRE upper level was filled. All but maybe fifteen or twenty seats in the lower, too.

There was a little boy - 3 or 4 by the sound of his voice - who punctuated T'Challa's lines by repeating his last few words in an adorably assertive voice. I have no idea where or who he was, but he had everyone elbowing their neighbors to ask "Did you hear that?"

And, now that I've seen Black Panther, and now that the rights to the X-Men are tantalizingly close to Disney's hands -- I will once again repeat my wish that Lupita Nyong'o play Storm. RETCON THE CHARACTER AND MAKE NAKIA STORM. There's no reason she can't be. Nakia's smart. She's a leader. She's basically engaged to T'Challa. MAKE HER STORM. DO IT NOW.

1 - I want a scene with Shuri geeking out with Tony and/or Rocket Racoon over tech. 2- I want a Ladies' Night scene, even if it's post credits, with Okoye, Gamora, Black Widow, and Valkyrie. Please? I'll make the puppy eyes.

Also, I didn't think it was possible for a movie to make me like Everett Ross after he was such a jerk in Civil War, but he was more human this time around.

Oh, and did the movie ever say what happened to Killmonger's mom? Marvel seems to be good at the antagonists whose families do them wrong, but I don't think we got any insight into his mom's whereabouts or identity.

It defeated Justice League's 3-month take in 4 DAYS.

And finally: Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri, Shuri...

Shuri is the unironic, not awkward, enthusiastic, witty butt-kicking genius / geek-girl I adore. Had this movie been around when I was a kid, I would have had every Shuri toy. The Shuri lunch box and backpack. Her panther gauntlet-blasters with blinky lights, all of it!

cornflake · Feb 21, 2018

Isn't EVERYBODY talking about it? There were segments on the news about the bo.

nighttimer · Feb 24, 2018

cornflake said:
Isn't EVERYBODY talking about it? There were segments on the news about the bo.

Nope. EVERYBODY is NOT talking about it. This thread is the evidence of that. :rolleyes

Fortunately, the box office business and the adoring crowds who have seen Black Panther more than make up for the lack of interest in discussing it.

Albedo · Feb 24, 2018

I'm not a fan of Marvel movies, but I've heard enough good about this one that I might make an exception, like I did with GotG. I'm glad this one is wildly successful, despite the best efforts of the racist IMDb troll brigade to do the same thing to it they did to Ghostbusters (2016).

shakeysix · Feb 24, 2018

The DJ on my classic 70's station was all about it. Keep it quiet, though. Old people liking a movie could be the kiss of death.

PyriteFool · Feb 24, 2018

I've also been seeing lots of discussion surrounding the movie. Rightly so! It's incredible and deeply thought provoking and incisive. Maybe it's just my particular internet milieu? But I honestly don't understand the argument that nobody is talking about it

I can't wait to see it again, but I've really been enjoying the discussions and think pieces. We're definitely going to see more film's like this which I'm thrilled about.

ETA: I don't think we learn anything about Erik's mom, but I honestly think that plays into the character's misogyny. SPOILER ALERT the guy shot his gf/partner in cold blood, i don't think he cares much about his mother

Putputt · Feb 25, 2018

Eeeeeeverybody on my Twitter list as well as on Facebook is talking about it, which is awesome. It deserves so much attention. We tried last weekend and this weekend to get tickets, but it’s sold out, with just front row side seats remaining. We’re gonna try again on a weekday. Fingers crossed...

Ari Meermans · Feb 25, 2018

Yeah, if it's not appearing in your Twitter feed, you might wanna expand your follow list. just sayin'

The utterly amazing Rahawa Haile has a wonderful article about "Black Panther" up on Longreads. But, before I give you the link—and it IS a must-read—I need to caution that it does contain spoilers, so you might want to read it after you've seen this stunning movie.

Got it? Spoiler alert: "How Black Panther Asks Us To Examine Who We Are to One Another".

Putputt · Feb 25, 2018

Gonna leave this link here. People are talking about BP, and have been for the last couple of months. There is a LOT of well-deserved buzz.

AW Admin · Feb 25, 2018

nighttimer said:
Nope. EVERYBODY is NOT talking about it. This thread is the evidence of that.

Fortunately, the box office business and the adoring crowds who have seen Black Panther more than make up for the lack of interest in discussing it.

It's getting a lot of attention and discussion in the places I hang, including lots of lesbian social/discussion forums, hordes of linguists delighted about the use of a real language with native speakers, neither of which are groups that you'd expect to be deeply embedded in comics culture and comics films.

Where it's not getting lots of love are the various white male straight fanboy sites. They're either hating it or ignoring it.

Lots of women I know are going to Emerald City Comic Con for the first time just because of BP.

Chris P · Feb 25, 2018

I saw it last night. It was wonderful! Not at all what I was expecting from a superhero movie. It was more sci-fi than the typical Superman vs Lex Luthor. I liked Michael B Jordan in Creed, and he was awesome here. This guy's going places as an actor. They all were awesome, although I wonder if Forest Whitaker is ever going to age. Not that I'm envious of his eternal youth, mind you.

I also thought it was one of the few movies that takes Africa seriously without being a drearfest. Too many have bad stuff happen in Africa at the beginning, then the hero saves the day elsewhere in the world. This was flipped; something bad happens in Oakland, then the hero saves the day in Africa. I only lived in Uganda for two years, but this seemed like the type of movie my Ugandan friends would make. I also loved it that the WASP American character, although doing something necessary for the victory of the good guys, wasn't the hero. It reminded me of Wonder Woman in that way.

I'm not a linguist by any means, but the language (Rukanda? Kikanda?

) was fascinating. The words were very Bantu (I heard one or two Swahili words) but it didn't seem to follow Bantu grammar (when they say "my son," for example, the possessive comes before the noun in the movie but it follows in Bantu languages). In one scene, someone uses guttoral stops and clicks in her speech, which aren't used by the other characters.

You know, I can analyze the hell out of a made up language, and not even care that there's no such thing as vibrainium.

ETA: Ah, the language is based on Xhosa (which explains the stops) and Igbo, which is why I couldn't connect it to the Bantu I learned in East Africa. The meteor lands in Uganda, and I saw what I wanted to. Research BEFORE posting, Christopher!

Alessandra Kelley · Feb 25, 2018

Second highest second weekend box office receipts in US history, surpassed only by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/25/bla...phomore-weekend-in-us-box-office-history.html

It was a lot of fun and beautifully made.

My family usually avoids crowds by going to the Sunday afternoon matinee a week after the film opens. Didn’t work this time. All showings sold out well ahead of time. The theater ran out of popcorn!

It was a well behaved crowd.

Twick · Feb 26, 2018

It's a marvelous (lol, pun not really intended) movie. Marvel has changed the cameras they're using, so complaints up to now of a "flat" colour scheme will be fixed. So this one pops with colour. The acting is great - Leticia Wright is delightful and every minor character shines as well - and it does have a challenging political message. (I laughed bitterly when one conservative commenter tried to play "Look! It says isolationism is a good thing!" and people were like, "Did you even stay to the end, bro?")

Michael B. Jordan is incandescent and heartwrenching, and it says a lot about Chadwick Boseman that he remains the true hero of the piece in face of this.

lizmonster · Feb 26, 2018

Twick said:
It's a marvelous (lol, pun not really intended) movie. Marvel has changed the cameras they're using, so complaints up to now of a "flat" colour scheme will be fixed. So this one pops with colour. The acting is great - Leticia Wright is delightful and every minor character shines as well - and it does have a challenging political message. (I laughed bitterly when one conservative commenter tried to play "Look! It says isolationism is a good thing!" and people were like, "Did you even stay to the end, bro?")

One of the things I loved about it (we saw it yesterday) is that the political messages were complex, and you could see the perspectives of both sides. The line between "Yeah, I get it" and "Wow, THAT guy's going too far" was pretty thin. There was a lot of thought-provoking material there.

Another thing that makes it a standout Marvel film: no other superheroes. The closest we got was the flashback to T'Challa's dad getting killed. The Kid leaned over and asked me if she was supposed to know what that was all about; I told her all she needed to know was bad guys had blown up a building and Dad died. She lost no context or meaning because she didn't have the detailed Avengers backstory.

Twick said:
Michael B. Jordan is incandescent and heartwrenching, and it says a lot about Chadwick Boseman that he remains the true hero of the piece in face of this.

Oh, yes. Jordan was electric, but Boseman was incredibly nuanced. They played off each other so well. Full marks to them as well as the script.

I'll take more movies like this, thanks.

Cyia · Feb 26, 2018

Something that sticks with me is Okoye's response to Ross being in the transport craft on his way to Wakanda. She acknowledges that he's a foreign intelligence operative without demonizing him for it. He's loyal to his country, as she's loyal to hers, with both being bound to the duty they swore to perform.

It's so common to see characters denounce others for being loyal to their own birthplaces (rather than the MC, whoever s/he may be), that it really sticks out when someone says - he's doing his job, just like I'd do mine.

Anna_Hedley · Feb 26, 2018

Can I take this opportunity to expound on how amazing Danai Gurira is? She's so beautiful and intelligent and badass and funny and awesome and and and... And Okoye was my favourite on her own merits as a character despite my Danai Gurira bias.

My only regret is seeing this in 3D where my one wonky eye couldn't catch up with the movement on the screen. Looking forward to seeing it again in 2D when it comes out on DVD.

nighttimer · Feb 26, 2018

Ari Meermans said:
Yeah, if it's not appearing in your Twitter feed, you might wanna expand your follow list. just sayin'

Oh, trust me. It's ALL over my Twitter and Facebook feed. I've read over a dozen think pieces and essays about Black Panther and shared most of them. Here's the thing: I don't even think this is a great film in terms of Marvel movies. I gave it a solid "B+" and I found the third act almost traditional Marvel "let's start hitting each other and jumping around with obvious CGI" a little disappointing.

But it almost doesn't matter. What makes Black Panther a great movie is it has a massive cultural event for an underrepresented and underserved demographic. When the sista at work whom I rarely have conversations going longer than "Hi" and "Have a good day" corners me and demands to know when am I going to see Black Panther and how visionary and uplifting and how important this movie is because she and her church were all getting together on the bus, rocking Kente cloth and African dress and going to celebrate what Ryan Coogler and the Mouse House hath wrought, something BIG is going on.

One brother joked he was going to go as Huey P. Newton in his classic pose and dare anyone to tell him to stop blocking their view.

Plus, there are some FINE lookin' sistas in Black Panther. :hooray:

And the bruthas aren't too hard on the eyes either if you're into that sort of thing...

AW Admin said:
It's getting a lot of attention and discussion in the places I hang, including lots of lesbian social/discussion forums, hordes of linguists delighted about the use of a real language with native speakers, neither of which are groups that you'd expect to be deeply embedded in comics culture and comics films.

Where it's not getting lots of love are the various white male straight fanboy sites. They're either hating it or ignoring it.

It's probably the same various White male straight fanboys who hated on Wonder Woman. They weren't the center of attention there either and here there's even less for them to identify with. Fuck the colonizers. Not every superhero flick has to be about or for them.

I'm sorry the film copped out on Danai Gurira's orientation (the same way they did on Tessa Thompson in Thor: Ragnarok) because in the comic, Ta-Neshi Coates and Roxanne Gay don't tap dance around the same-sex love among the Dora Milaje . That caveat aside, between Gurira, Lupita Nyog'o, Letitia Wright, and the ageless Angela Basset, the Black women are fucking FIERCE in Black Panther and none of them are shrieking damsels-in-distress waiting for T'challa to rush to the rescue.

I honestly cannot recall an adventure/action film with four Black women playing prominent roles where that can be said. Not as maids or whores or victims, but as queens, geniuses, spies, and warriors. Not ever, and that's a pretty damn monumental accomplishment. There have been films featuring strong Black women, but rarely this strong and this Black. I'd almost rather see a sequel/spin-off with Nakia, Okoye and Shuri in the lead than T'challa beating up bad more bad guys.

Hell, I'll be greedy and say I want both as well as Erik Killmonger's backstory, who's a fascinating character in his own right. I want it all and I want it now.

autumnleaf · Feb 27, 2018

I was worried this one wouldn't live up to the hype, but I loved it. I love the aesthetics of the African cultural elements mixed with the futurism. I love Shuri's "Q from James Bond" moment with T'Challa. I love the warrior women (apparently they're based on a real-life West African regiment called the Dahomey Amazons). I love that Killmonger is a villain with relatable motives.

Yes to a sequel with Nakia, Okoye and Shuri! Or even just Shuri, if you have to pick one (warrior-nerd teen, what's not to love). Maybe a TV series.
Nobody's made the joke yet about Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis being last together in Lord of the Rings, and therefore they are the Tolkien white guys? :gone:

KTC · Feb 27, 2018

I was under the impression everyone was talking about it because everyone in MY twitter feed is talking about it and have been talking about it for weeks. I absolutely freaking LOVED it. I was away in cottage country opening weekend, so I had to wait for last weekend to see it. LOVE. And I hope to go see it again this Friday with my son. He doesn't like superhero movies (AT ALL) but I'm trying to convince him this is so much more. We'll see...

RichardGarfinkle · Feb 27, 2018

I thought it was great. Complex character conflicts and backgrounds. Some of the only action sequences I've enjoyed in some time. And it's great that now Marvel and DC have both disproven old Hollywood cliches about needing to have white male leads.

One of my favorite bits was that M'Baku was given a wider more complex role and more nuance than the painful stereotype he's often portrayed as.

The only overly predictable parts lay in the T'Challa's two duels.

I kind of wish that Marvel had known what they were going to do with this movie a few years ago. If they had, they could have introduced Killmonger as an American Agent (maybe even a SHIELD agent), given him part in some earlier events and then his emergence here would have been a surprise and a character revelation.

The movie has also produced some of the most thought provoking reviews I've seen in ages.

Cyia · Feb 27, 2018

RichardGarfinkle said:
I kind of wish that Marvel had known what they were going to do with this movie a few years ago. If they had, they could have introduced Killmonger as an American Agent (maybe even a SHIELD agent), given him part in some earlier events and then his emergence here would have been a surprise and a character revelation.

That would have been pretty cool, actually. Either as one of Cap's STRIKE team, or one of the guys who actually arrested Cap, Bucky and Falcon when they were fighting Black Panther would have been good. Imagine him introducing himself to T'Challa in that moment, without letting on who he was.

Maggie Maxwell · Feb 27, 2018

Cyia said:
That would have been pretty cool, actually. Either as one of Cap's STRIKE team, or one of the guys who actually arrested Cap, Bucky and Falcon when they were fighting Black Panther would have been good. Imagine him introducing himself to T'Challa in that moment, without letting on who he was.

Oh man, imagine if he'd wormed his way into a security position at the event where T'Chaka was killed. To be deep in fury and thought, so close to revenge for his father, and then it's ripped away from him at the same moment T'Challa's father is ripped from him, just as violently and suddenly as he lost his own...

If a movie makes $242 million on opening week and nobody talks about it does it make a sound?

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