Composer Ludwig Göransson On The “Labor Of Love” Cementing Chadwick Boseman’s Legacy With ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ – Sound & Screen

*Be warned, major spoilers ahead for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”* Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is expected to cross $600 million at the global box office this weekend. And it’s really quite the feat that co-writer/director Ryan Coogler was able to pull off, given the heartbreaking development process after losing actor Chadwick Boseman and trying to get the massive film completed while honoring his memory.

There’s a special place at cowriter/director Ryan Coogler’s table and in his heart for those who supported Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Following up the enormous success of a box office-shattering, Academy Award-winning film with a sequel carries its own pressures and challenges, but for the team behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, they also had to navigate production and life after the loss of their beloved lead, their king, T’Challa, the Black Panther himself Chadwick Boseman. Director Ryan Coogler discussed moving forward in the wake of Boseman’s tragic passing in 2020. 

Finding inspiration. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Lupita Nyong’o plays the grieving lover of T’Challa, the character played by the late Chadwick Boseman, but in reality, the actress turned to Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, for inspiration.

There were a lot of questions going into the release of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” How would the sequel deal with the sudden passing of Chadwick Boseman, the franchise’s leader? Who is going to suit up as the new Black Panther? And do we really need a villain with pointy ears and winged ankles? Thankfully, Ryan Cooger and his fantastic cast have once again delivered a “Black Panther” film that answers all those questions a whole lot more.

As expected, Disney and Marvel Studios Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is on fire with a $28M Thursday which easily beats the preview night of the first Black Panther in 2018 which did $25.2M. Wakanda Forever ranks as the third best Thursday preview of the year behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($36M) and Thor: Love and Thunder‘s ($29M). Overall, Black Panther 2‘s previews rank as the 15th top preview performance in industry history and gives the Marvel Cinematic Universe six of the top 15 starts ever. The 3-day projection for Wakanda Forever is between $175M-$200M at 4,936 theaters.

While it’s unclear whether or not Ryan Coogler is going to return to direct another “Black Panther” film after the release of ‘Wakanda Forever,’ it has long been known the filmmaker is working alongside Marvel Studios to develop spinoffs for Disney+. Originally, it was revealed that the spinoff would be focused on the Dora Milaje, led by Danai Gurira’s Okoye.

Despite the presence of New Line’s Black Adam and Universal’s franchise title Halloween Ends at the October box office, the drought we’ve been weathering since the second frame of August with U.S./Canada weekend ticket sales averaging $58M has been stinging to say the least.

There’s no line in ‘Wakanda Forever,’ the sequel to Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” (2018), as bruising and seething as “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors that jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage.” But emotionally, this somber ‘Black Panther’ sequel is just as visceral and lacerating and perhaps just as absolutist. And spiritually, there is great lineage to this bitter resignation about demise, pride, ancestries, the great depths below us, and the refusal to accept enslavement.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hits theaters next weekend to wrap up Phase 4 of the MCU, and Marvel fans have lots of questions in the lead-up to the film’s release.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hits theaters next Friday to wrap Phase 4 of the MCU. And while that’s exciting for Marvel fans, another more serious ambiance hangs over Ryan Coogler‘s sequel to his 2018 film.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hits theaters next Friday and closes out Phase 4 of the MCU. But Ryan Coogler‘s sequel to his 2018 film is highly anticipated for several reasons.

A day after releasing the audio for “Lift Me Up,” her new song from the soundtrack of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Rihanna has dropped the official music video, and you can watch it above now.The video is a fairly simple thing — Rihanna just went to a beach somewhere and had a camera crew capture her looking emotional against a sunset and twilight sky. It’s interspersed with footage from “Wakanda Forever,” which will of course be its own kind of emotional, since the context both in the story and in the real world is the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in 2020.The song is Rihanna’s first solo single since “Lemon” in 2017.Alongside Rihanna’s music, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” stars Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Leticia Wright as Shuri, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross, all returning from “Black Panther.” Tenoch Huerta plays Namor, the king of Talokan, joined by Dominique Thorne as future Ironheart RiRi Williams, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli. Ryan Coogler directed the film, which lands in theaters Nov.