New York — Not since “Avatar” has a box-office hit had the kind of staying power of “Black Panther.” Ryan Coogler’s comic-book sensation on Sunday became the first film since James Cameron’s 2009 smash to top the weekend box office five straight weekends. The Disney release grossed $27 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates, pushing its domestic haul to $605.4 million. Worldwide, “Black Panther” has grossed more than $1.1 billion. Though “Black Panther” has had little competition to contend with throughout February and March, such consistency is especially rare in today’s movie-going world. Before “Avatar,” the last film to do it was 1999’s “The Sixth Sense.” That left second place to the MGM-Warner Bros.’ rebooted “Tomb Raider,” starring Alicia Vikander as the archaeologist adventurer Lara Croft. The $90 million film opened with $23.5 … [Read more...] about ‘Black Panther’ extends box office reign
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Movie review: Social activism fuels action-packed ‘Black Panther’
All hail “Black Panther,” which ascends to a position of royalty among Marvel’s movies.This is a superhero movie that embraces using a piece of populist entertainment to address issues that are right here, right now in our social conscience, from skin color and nationalism to cultural identity.The fact that it accomplishes this while being incredibly entertaining for 2-plus hours makes this a rare piece of popcorn filmmaking that honors the Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comics creation of the civil-rights era 50 years ago.You don’t get much more fun than Disney’s 2017 Marvel entries — the “Guardians of the Galaxy” sequel and “Thor: Ragnarok” — but it’s been a couple of years since the studio aspired beyond an action-comedy model.Credit goes to young filmmaker Ryan Coogler, who showed his social activism with the acclaimed “Fruitvale Station” and followed it up with “Creed,” making a … [Read more...] about Movie review: Social activism fuels action-packed ‘Black Panther’
Review: ‘Black Panther’ is one of Marvel’s best yet
The best possible thing that could be said about “Black Panther,” the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is that it’s the first Marvel movie that doesn’t feel like a Marvel movie.Like he did with the “Rocky” sequel “Creed,” director/co-writer Ryan Coogler (who is only 31!) has taken a corporate product and infused it with emotional weight, personality and a thematic connection to real-world problems.That Coogler manages to ground “Black Panther” — a psychedelic fantasy featuring spaceships, mystical meteorites and well-trained battle rhinos — into some sense of recognizable reality is really something. It helps that while the bulk of “Black Panther” takes place in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, the film begins and ends in Oakland, California — Coogler’s hometown. The movie is tethered to something personal for its filmmaker, immediately distinguishing it from the slick … [Read more...] about Review: ‘Black Panther’ is one of Marvel’s best yet
Your Weekly Movie To-Do List: The Fallen Idol and Black Narcissus on Nitrate
Friday, March 16The Fallen Idol may not be quite as well known as director Carol Reed's postwar masterpiece, The Third Man, but it has an even stronger emotional pull. The Graham Greene screenplay dramatizes — with heartbreaking authenticity — the confusion of a little boy who believes his beloved butler (the great Ralph Richardson) has committed murder. A 35mm nitrate print courtesy of the George Eastman Museum presages the upcoming annual edition of Nitrate Picture Show in May. If you've never experienced the magic of cellulose nitrate, prized among movie buffs for its lustrous, high-contrast image, this would make a splendid introduction. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Fri., March 16, 7:30 p.m.; $15. (323) 466-3456, americancinemathequecalendar.com. EXPAND Gene Barry and Ann Robinson in The War of the Worlds (1953) Paramount Pictures Before Spielberg turned it into a post-9/11 allegory, H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds had its most famous screen … [Read more...] about Your Weekly Movie To-Do List: The Fallen Idol and Black Narcissus on Nitrate
‘Black Panther’ is a royally imaginative standout in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
We didn't know we'd been yearning for it until it arrived, but now that it's here it’s unmistakable that the wait for a film like "Black Panther" has been way longer than it should have been.On one level this is the next-in-line Marvel Universe story of the ruler of the mythical African kingdom of Wakanda who moonlights as a superhero and has to contend with threats and problems both internal and external.But "Black Panther," as co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler and starring a deep bench of actors of color, is an against-the-grain $100-million-plus epic so intensely personal that when the usual Marvel touchstones (Stan Lee, anyone) appear, they feel out of place.A superhero movie whose characters have integrity and dramatic heft, filled with engaging exploits and credible crises all grounded in a vibrant but convincing reality, laced with socially conscious commentary as well as wicked laughs that don't depend on snark, this is the model of what an involving popular … [Read more...] about ‘Black Panther’ is a royally imaginative standout in the Marvel Cinematic Universe