Yibambe! The long-awaited Wakanda-centric sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finally arrived in theaters this weekend and was met with well-deserved positive fanfare and dollars. And by “dollars,” I specifically mean $180 million domestically and a whopping $330M worldwide.
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According to Variety, the film has now cemented its place as the “second biggest domestic debut of the year,” coming in right behind the $187.4 million release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earlier this year. It sits in the number three spot as far as top-performing movies of the pandemic era go, with Spider-Man: No Way Home and the aforementioned Strange movie in first and second place, respectively.
As a lover of TV and film, with no legitimate way to assess just how much money this movie would bring in—more so because I’m just not into numbers like that—who only projected them to bring in $150M domestically based off high hopes and the strength of Ryan Coogler’s storytelling and heart alone, it feels good to see it soar past that number and nearly half a billion during the first four days of its release.
Why? Because the intention and spirit behind bringing this story to life came from a good place and the storyline was damn good (I was one of those people who saw it on Saturday and whose $25 played a seemingly small part in helping them secure the big bucks.) Good things deserve to get their just dues. That’s it, that’s all.
If you’ve been living under a rock and are somehow unaware of what the sequel is about, per Marvel’s official synopsis, Wakanda Forever follows Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), as they “fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.”
It’s currently playing in theaters everywhere.
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