Black Panther smashes box office records

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The Bib-iest of Nickels
I thought the film did alarmingly well. Unlike past Marvel fodder, which is enjoyable, and sometimes even carrying surprising depth, this film succeeded at depth, bucking off convention, as well as providing a strong antagonist and central conflict.



Hi guys. I knew it that Black Panther would smash the box office record. I have watched the trailer and I found the imagery really beautiful, and the cast was marvellous. I’ll be watching The Black Panther in my local theatre this weekend. Hopefully it will be as good as the trailer. Goodbye!



It's easy to top box office records when they are not corrected by ticket price inflation. If they corrected for ticket price inflation no box office records would be broken since Star Wars in 1977, over 40 years ago: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm



The big question now is how sustainable this is. Depending on how you look at it this is either a huge breakthrough about the size of the market for African-American-centered films, or just a whole lot of pent-up demand piling on top of a gross that would've been pretty high anyway.

Or, more likely, something a bit between the two.



The Bib-iest of Nickels
The big question now is how sustainable this is. Depending on how you look at it this is either a huge breakthrough about the size of the market for African-American-centered films, or just a whole lot of pent-up demand piling on top of a gross that would've been pretty high anyway.

Or, more likely, something a bit between the two.
I would say it is something in-between those two fields.

I wrote a novel in-response to you, and I apologize for that...

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, Black Panther was executed as something of a perfect-storm, in-particular with how its release date correlated with Black History Month and how it released in February in-general, a month that has commonly been grouped in with January as a dying ground, but has recently seen break-through success like Deadpool suggest other-wise. The fact that it received big-reviews (I really enjoyed it) only accelerated it.

When I think of precedent, I think of three films in-particular worth talking about: IT, Wonder Woman, and Creed.

The Calm Before the Storm:

(1) Creed is from the same director as Black Panther and, in a lot of ways, acted as a prelude to Black Panther's success, not only because it provided a hit for Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, but because of the way it expressed itself as, more or less, the black Rocky (a phrase echoed by Chris Rock during the Academy Awards that year). The film was a better box-office success than the last entries in the Rocky series and, although, on a smaller scale, it felt like an "event" film, prospered by its strong reviews. Leading to my point, ...

An Event:
(2) Wonder Woman and Black Panther had a similar upbringing to them. The way that Wonder Woman bolstered itself with a female-director and a female-actress, in a lot of ways, it became a cause to support Wonder Woman. It felt like Wonder Woman was an event and supporting it was, practically, an act of supporting gender-equality by itself. Even though Wonder Woman is not the first superhero-film based on a female, in the same way that Black Panther is not the same superhero-film based on an African American, it might as well have been in the way the zeitgeist led it. The African American and female demographic are both under-represented in the film-industry and it has allowed for a lot of film series' to bolster considerable success without necessarily having the goods to support it. Look at most of Kevin Hart's filmography or Tyler Perry's, parring films like Jumanji, and, especially with Tyler Perry, and it feels like the deciding factor for its success falls on the shoulders of black moviegoers. In the same way as a lot of the films like Bad Moms or a lot of films with Melissa McCarthy, bad reviews didn't prevent box-office success, and it's largely because an under-served audience. Although Wonder Woman wasn't the first attempt at an action blockbuster in recent times, it was the first attempt at a female action-film that felt like an actual blockbuster, unlike, say, Ghostbusters, which faced backlash for it's all female cast and its bad visual effects. Wonder Woman, on the other-hand, like Black Panther, felt like an organic, earned block-buster that didn't piggyback on the past inertia of other films. It felt "new," ... which is the final point...

Something New:
(3) Something a lot of individuals don't take into account with horror films is how profitable they are when they succeed. Like female moviegoers, or African America moviegoers, fans of the horror genre consistently show-up and show-up in droves when they feel as though something is worth their time. That's why you see a lot of micro-budget horror films. In-terms of box office success, Insidious: The Last Key was more profitable than the Justice League when the dust has settled. Justice League cost three-hundred million dollars to produce and a considerable amount to market, so much so that it needed another one-hundred million dollars to have a chance to break even. That's the allure of smaller budget horror films. They allow for massive return-on-investment, and when they don't succeed, it doesn't break studios as much as a Justice League caliber misfire. In 2017, we had Universal plagued with misfires like The Mummy, with projected losses of up to 95 million, but, then, in October, they released Happy Death Day, a film on nobody's radar, that released middling reviews, that cost not even a fraction of The Mummy's production budget, and was still likely able to cover Universal's losses from The Mummy's failings. Unfortunately, the issue with this is that it subsequently damages the horror genre and creates cushioned expectations and an allowance for mediocre horror films hitting the market. This parallels, in some respect, to the mistreatment of African American audiences, as well as women theatergoers. It's not uncommon to see Tyler Perry make a film that's ripped apart by audiences or a bad Nicholas Sparks' film forced onto theater-screens, and when you create these cushioned expectations, that allows for a film that feels worthy of ones' time to blow-up.

We saw it when James Wan released The Conjuring to over three-hundred million-dollars at the worldwide box-office, our proverbial calm before the storm, our resurgence of interest. And then, we saw an event when Andy Muschietti released an adaptation of Stephen King's IT to the masses, grossing more than what the hugely successful Conjuring and Conjuring 2 films did combined and making more money worldwide than Justice League. This shows that the horror market never left, they simply went into hibernation, no longer sensitized to micro-budget horror or rehashed concepts.

And it's beautiful to see the market-place react as such. We often see films like Transformers, where everyone bashes them, but the box-office total is over a billion-dollars. But Transformers: The Last Knight was the lowest grossing of the series. And, although, if you told me years ago that Justice League would misfire, I wouldn't have believed you, moviegoers made a proper statement that they weren't satisfied with the trajectory of the DC Extended Universe. Instead, moviegoers are actually demanding to be satiated, and although, naysayers might argue the quality of Stephen King's It, of Wonder Woman, or of Black Panther, it's nice to see, in some respects, audiences demanding a higher quality of mainstream film.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
"Transformers: The Last Jedi"
Really love that


Great post too. I enjoyed reading it. Also enjoyed the little note on the "hybernation" of the horror genre while also referencing IT.



The Bib-iest of Nickels
"Transformers: The Last Jedi"
Really love that


Great post too. I enjoyed reading it. Also enjoyed the little note on the "hybernation" of the horror genre while also referencing IT.
Whoops! Fixed it. Haha.



I would say it is something in-between those two fields.

I wrote a novel in-response to you, and I apologize for that...

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, Black Panther was executed as something of a perfect-storm, in-particular with how its release date correlated with Black History Month and how it released in February in-general, a month that has commonly been grouped in with January as a dying ground, but has recently seen break-through success like Deadpool suggest other-wise. The fact that it received big-reviews (I really enjoyed it) only accelerated it.

When I think of precedent, I think of three films in-particular worth talking about: IT, Wonder Woman, and Creed.

The Calm Before the Storm:

(1) Creed is from the same director as Black Panther and, in a lot of ways, acted as a prelude to Black Panther's success, not only because it provided a hit for Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, but because of the way it expressed itself as, more or less, the black Rocky (a phrase echoed by Chris Rock during the Academy Awards that year). The film was a better box-office success than the last entries in the Rocky series and, although, on a smaller scale, it felt like an "event" film, prospered by its strong reviews. Leading to my point, ...

An Event:
(2) Wonder Woman and Black Panther had a similar upbringing to them. The way that Wonder Woman bolstered itself with a female-director and a female-actress, in a lot of ways, it became a cause to support Wonder Woman. It felt like Wonder Woman was an event and supporting it was, practically, an act of supporting gender-equality by itself. Even though Wonder Woman is not the first superhero-film based on a female, in the same way that Black Panther is not the same superhero-film based on an African American, it might as well have been in the way the zeitgeist led it. The African American and female demographic are both under-represented in the film-industry and it has allowed for a lot of film series' to bolster considerable success without necessarily having the goods to support it. Look at most of Kevin Hart's filmography or Tyler Perry's, parring films like Jumanji, and, especially with Tyler Perry, and it feels like the deciding factor for its success falls on the shoulders of black moviegoers. In the same way as a lot of the films like Bad Moms or a lot of films with Melissa McCarthy, bad reviews didn't prevent box-office success, and it's largely because an under-served audience. Although Wonder Woman wasn't the first attempt at an action blockbuster in recent times, it was the first attempt at a female action-film that felt like an actual blockbuster, unlike, say, Ghostbusters, which faced backlash for it's all female cast and its bad visual effects. Wonder Woman, on the other-hand, like Black Panther, felt like an organic, earned block-buster that didn't piggyback on the past inertia of other films. It felt "new," ... which is the final point...

Something New:
(3) Something a lot of individuals don't take into account with horror films is how profitable they are when they succeed. Like female moviegoers, or African America moviegoers, fans of the horror genre consistently show-up and show-up in droves when they feel as though something is worth their time. That's why you see a lot of micro-budget horror films. In-terms of box office success, Insidious: The Last Key was more profitable than the Justice League when the dust has settled. Justice League cost three-hundred million dollars to produce and a considerable amount to market, so much so that it needed another one-hundred million dollars to have a chance to break even. That's the allure of smaller budget horror films. They allow for massive return-on-investment, and when they don't succeed, it doesn't break studios as much as a Justice League caliber misfire. In 2017, we had Universal plagued with misfires like The Mummy, with projected losses of up to 95 million, but, then, in October, they released Happy Death Day, a film on nobody's radar, that released middling reviews, that cost not even a fraction of The Mummy's production budget, and was still likely able to cover Universal's losses from The Mummy's failings. Unfortunately, the issue with this is that it subsequently damages the horror genre and creates cushioned expectations and an allowance for mediocre horror films hitting the market. This parallels, in some respect, to the mistreatment of African American audiences, as well as women theatergoers. It's not uncommon to see Tyler Perry make a film that's ripped apart by audiences or a bad Nicholas Sparks' film forced onto theater-screens, and when you create these cushioned expectations, that allows for a film that feels worthy of ones' time to blow-up.

We saw it when James Wan released The Conjuring to over three-hundred million-dollars at the worldwide box-office, our proverbial calm before the storm, our resurgence of interest. And then, we saw an event when Andy Muschietti released an adaptation of Stephen King's IT to the masses, grossing more than what the hugely successful Conjuring and Conjuring 2 films did combined and making more money worldwide than Justice League. This shows that the horror market never left, they simply went into hibernation, no longer sensitized to micro-budget horror or rehashed concepts.

And it's beautiful to see the market-place react as such. We often see films like Transformers, where everyone bashes them, but the box-office total is over a billion-dollars. But Transformers: The Last Knight was the lowest grossing of the series. And, although, if you told me years ago that Justice League would misfire, I wouldn't have believed you, moviegoers made a proper statement that they weren't satisfied with the trajectory of the DC Extended Universe. Instead, moviegoers are actually demanding to be satiated, and although, naysayers might argue the quality of Stephen King's It, of Wonder Woman, or of Black Panther, it's nice to see, in some respects, audiences demanding a higher quality of mainstream film.
Box Office has also been trending upwards for African American films in the first quarter of the year.

2017 - Get Out 355 Million
2016 - Ride Along 2 124 Million
2015 - Focus 159 Million
2014 - Ride Along 154 Million
2013 - The Rock's Movies (Pain and Gain, Snitch, GI Joe) aprox. 500 million
2012 - Safe House 204 Million



The Bib-iest of Nickels
It's funny, I didn't have a topic for my YouTube channel this week, but as I was writing that response to Yoda, and it got longer, and longer, I decided, ... why not that? Haha. I turned it into an editorial video.



You can't win an argument just by being right!
It's funny, I didn't have a topic for my YouTube channel this week, but as I was writing that response to Yoda, and it got longer, and longer, I decided, ... why not that? Haha. I turned it into an editorial video.
You're pretty thorough. What do you do with all this info you collect, Mac?

Sorry, I can never spell that name so I have to give you a nickname. I hope you dont mind.



The Bib-iest of Nickels
You're pretty thorough. What do you do with all this info you collect, Mac?

Sorry, I can never spell that name so I have to give you a nickname. I hope you dont mind.
Nothing, nothing at all. (except the YouTube channel stuff, but that's more about opinion than the more analytical side of film) I've always really liked interpreting data and sponging statistical information. I had an interest in numbers and watching them accumulate. That spilled over to fandom toward box-office information, and I look at the information the same way I think a lot look at fantasy sports leagues, etc., and in a lot of ways, it's more for fun than any real purpose.

And I don't mind the nickname. It's the name I publish my novels under, it's my last name, but my first name is Nicholas.



You can't win an argument just by being right!
Nothing, nothing at all. (except the YouTube channel stuff, but that's more about opinion than the more analytical side of film) I've always really liked interpreting data and sponging statistical information. I had an interest in numbers and watching them accumulate. That spilled over to fandom toward box-office information, and I look at the information the same way I think a lot look at fantasy sports leagues, etc., and in a lot of ways, it's more for fun than any real purpose.

And I don't mind the nickname. It's the name I publish my novels under, it's my last name, but my first name is Nicholas.
Good for you. Sounds like a pretty cool hobby, Mac.



"Honor is not in the Weapon. It is in the Man"
Black Panther is about to make history again. It has replaced The Emoji Movie as the first film to open in Saudi Arabia after a 35-year old ban of cinemas in the country.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/saudi-ci...black-panther/
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http://www.worldfilmgeek.com



I am yet to see this movie and see what the ho ha is about. I dont mind these DC/Marvel movies existing. But now it has come to a point of being overdone. I watched an episode of Talking movies around November, and they were saying was 2017 the year of "super hero fatigue"? The way Black Panther smashed records, looks like, not so much. But one thing i definitely cant stand, is people ogling over it. Like they should be winning all the Oscar accolades. CGI ones yes. But definitely not the major ones.



And Whataburger >>>>>>>>>>>> Big Mac!
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The Bib-iest of Nickels
I am yet to see this movie and see what the ho ha is about. I dont mind these DC/Marvel movies existing. But now it has come to a point of being overdone. I watched an episode of Talking movies around November, and they were saying was 2017 the year of "super hero fatigue"? The way Black Panther smashed records, looks like, not so much. But one thing i definitely cant stand, is people ogling over it. Like they should be winning all the Oscar accolades. CGI ones yes. But definitely not the major ones.
If you haven't seen a film, I don't understand how you can be so upset that others like it, much less decree whether it should receive Oscar accolades or not.