I don’t know that they really expected Black Panther to do as well as it did. I thought that maybe it caught them a little off guard.
But that’s the case with the actors, too. I believe the contract is generally something like “you’re in for three movies, if we do three.” The studio isn’t contracting with the actor to guarantee them three movies. Admittedly, the audience isn’t as guaranteed to notice a director switch as they are to have an actor swapped, so maybe the studio sees it as a lesser risk.
I don’t have any real insight, but it seems to me that this hasn’t been the case in the past – even hugely successful movies where the director is tightly linked to the original film (cf Star Wars ep IV, Raiders of the Lost Ark) used a different director for the sequels. That wasn’t universally the case (Godfather series), but it seems like the assumption in Hollywood was that a successful director would move on to bigger and better things rather than sullying their hands with a mere sequel.
I think that’s changing now, and maybe the Marvel Studios recipe of telling a longer story over multiple movies is one of the root causes.
I think that someone at Marvel Studios recognized that it was something special – the amount of advertising dollars that they threw at it and the (relatively) good release date indicates to me that they saw that it had potential beyond that of the other “2nd tier” Marvel properties like Ant Man & The Wasp.
But yeah, I agree that no one thought it was going to be as massive a world-wide hit as it was.
I thought the Black Panther marketing was spot on and it really helped the film find a wide audience.
Why would it take them this long to get going on BP2?
Good question, but it’s possible that the deal was signed a while ago and we’re just hearing about it now.
Remember, BP is dead, and Marvel isn’t publicizing or even talking about any movies after Avengers 4 in April.
I forgot about the BP is dead part. Kinda hard to make a new BP movie if he is just a bunch of ashes in the Wakanda wilderness.
Not hard at all, Black Panther is a title, not a person. 😁
I get the impression directors are a little more picky and less comfortable being locked up in multi-picture deals than a lot of actors. Obviously it can be a sticking point for actors as well, but I just have the vague impression directors would be even more choosy about their projects.
Ryan Coogler may have still qualified as a “relative unknown” in the eyes of the public, but with Fruitvale Station and Creed, his career was unquestionably on the rise when he took on Black Panther. He certainly could’ve pursued other projects he’d enjoy, so for all we know maybe he wouldn’t have signed up for a three picture BP deal even if Marvel had offered one, preferring to just take things one movie at a time.
Psst…
Shuri. That is all. Though, admittedly, that would basically make her another of the Iron Man/ Batman archetype.
That’s certainly one of the more popular fan theories thanks to the comics.
Yeah, which is why I suspect what actually happens is that T’challa comes back, and Shuri takes up the mantle or role of a retired/ heroic sacrifice Iron Man.
Yeah marketing was good but the tail on this thing, the world of mouth, no amount of marketing can keep that going and Black Panther sold itself once people saw it.
That’d be cool. If they did it right, she and maybe another hero oh, I don’t know, a certain wolf, could carry it.
Is Marvel releasing any major flicks in the present timeline (Marvel is in the past, I believe) before they resolve Infinity War? I’d be shocked if they didn’t reverse the whole ashing thing, nearly in total.
Capt. Marvel is set in the 90s and comes out in March. That’s it though.
That’s a shame. I know it would probably be too dark, but I’d love to have one movie just about the world dealing with this major catastrophe from the perspective of someone left behind who isn’t ash.
Not before the conclusion of Infinity War, no.
However, they have green-lighted Guardians 3, Spider-Man: Far From Home, an as-yet untitled Black Widow film, and Black Panther 2, all presumably released after Avengers 4. So you can bank on Spider Man being de-ashed at a minimum.
Dr. Strange 2 is also heavily rumored, though not confirmed.
I guess there’s a whole slew of X-Men movies rattling around too, but of course none of them directly touch the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all.
This is filming right now. There are leaked street set pics all over the internet.
Yeah, it’s scheduled for release next July (Avengers 4 is May).
The rumor about the Black Widow film is it’s a prequel, so it may not be affected by Avengers 4.