With an over $290 million opening week, “Black Panther” made waves in the cinematic world. The movie’s opening followed the footsteps of many of Marvel’s previous movies, but quickly outshined them. The opening came only second in the franchise, only a few thousand dollars beneath “The Avengers,” Marvel’s top opening movie according to Deadline. Other than its quality, the film has a deeper reason for the popularity.

Black characters with lead roles or majority black casts in major movies are uncommon. Though many black heroes exist in the comic world, nearly none had a movie. The movies that do feature largely Black casts rarely make an impact on the box office or the characters are not considered positive representation.

With a nearly all Black cast and positive representation it covers all bases.

The movie also features a slew of strong female roles that revolve around intelligence and skill rather than beauty. Characters like T’Challa’s sister Shuri, a 16-year-old genius and princess, provide a character for not only people of color, but also girls to look up to.

“Black Panther is special because it promotes black excellence. I thought the movie was enthralling, and had a good story and definitely lived up to the hype,” junior Jeana Lyons said.
The movie sparked the Black Panther Challenge. It encouraged people to donate so that children, from less financially privileged neighborhoods could see the movie. The challenged prompted over $800,000 in donations.

In only weeks the movie has earned a spot in the top earning movies in history. The movie’s success is attributed to many factors whether it be the quality, representation or the hype. As the movie continues to climb the box office charts it is safe to say it has created an impact on pop culture and paves the way for greater representation and diversity.

“I thought it was well put together, it was perfect. It was outstanding and way above the standards of anything I’ve ever seen,” senior Jasani Beasley said.

Caroline Barger