Blockbusters Pushed to the Background by Black Panther!

Investments March 27, 2018

2018 came with the stormy Marvel release of Ryan Coogler–directed star-studded superhero movie ‘Black Panther‘, which has lingered on No.1 for more than two months, until this last weekend when it was overtaken by ‘Uprising‘, a movie from the stables of Universal and Corncast.

However, that cannot take away the indelible mark left by Black Panther, because in the last 30 years, Ryan Coogler became the director who won the record for the 11th motion picture to lead the box office list for one month and one week without a break, kicking off Avatar from that position after nine years.

In 1988, the movie that achieved that feat was ‘Good Morning Vietnam‘, followed by ‘Rain Man’, released between 1988 and 1989. In the same year, ‘Look Who’s Talking’ took the seat, then a year later, ‘Home Alone‘ ruled the chart in 1990.

Others include:

– The Silence of the Lambs-1991,

– Wayne’s World-1992,

– The Fugitive-1993,

– Titanic-1997 to 1998,

– The Sixth Sense-1999,

– Avatar-2009-2010.

A Real Threat

Unfortunately, some unpleasant consequences for the rivalry and the Hollywood industry cannot be overlooked. The hit from MCU can be seen as a stumbling-block for the other upcoming motion pictures to also progress. Ryan Coogler’s ‘Black Panther‘ is influencing its connections by adopting these tactics of using home box office to overthrow its competing movies which are also considered to be well-grounded in large scale level. In 1998, when Titanic came out, the low-cost studio owners who were out of the ‘big league’ releases, suffered more from such system.

Titanic was a great movie, no doubts, but the major loophole that assisted it to achieve that feat in the early months of 1998 was because there weren’t much movies around that period that were big budgets. Whereas, Black Panther is showing another side of the power. It’s like a gigantic large-scale project occupying the space that could fit other huge budget event films at once.

The past year’s films healthily competed with one another, regarding opening revenue generation, such as Beauty and the Beast with $175 million first release sales, Skull Island with $62 million, and Logan with $87 million.

Pacific Rim ‘Uprising’ was at No.1 over the weekend at the box office

Marvel has had it so good since the middle of February when Black Panther hit and indirectly covered the other tentpoles like Pacific Rim; Uprising, Red Sparrow, Tomb Raider and Wrinkle in Time (one-time No.2 on the box office charts) in March. The 2013 debut for Pacific Rim wasn’t impressive at all as it only gained $39 million, although a quarter of $100 million is hoped to be made during its follow-up launch.

Sadly, the films events seem to be going unnoticed by the industry. Everywhere, every neighborhood and every home is always selecting the champion. The director and crew knew what the mainstream audience wants in a movie, and they gave it to them. As a matter of fact, Oscar may also be inevitable. On the other hand, at the moment, this experience is unfavorable to the industry since almost every week is being devoted to Black Panther.

Unbeatable

New York, Mar. 2018: Fans watching Black Panther

Unimaginable is how grown-up hit films such as Gringo is being pushed to the background as if they don’t exist. Hollywood observers like a movie critic, Scott Mendelson, is worried that a planned blockbuster by another company may not see the light of the day if Black Panther is still on the throne, drowning the remaining tentpoles.

Mendelson is however optimistic about the coming summer season. He believes that Disney deliberately shifted the release of the Avengers: Infinity War, beyond the debuts of Solo and Deadpool 2. Whichever way it is, studios should be watchful of their film schedules when off-season is around, although that term is no longer in use. This is because the opportunity to host a giant movie event may never come again when summer is over or even before it begins.