Wakanda Forever: A New Kind of MCU Blockbuster without Chadwick Boseman, and Its Faint Momma
The big challenge of following the movie was that it had to do without star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020.
“I just finished it, man. He asked him if he was interested in reading it, before getting the studio notes. We had last spoken that time. And yeah, so I, you know, he passed maybe a couple weeks after I finished.”
“He was tired, bro. I could tell he was tired. I’d been trying to get a hold of him for a few days and Denzel [Washington] had been trying to get a hold of him too,” he said. “So I texted him and told him, ‘Hey man, Denzel said he’s been looking for you too.’ He just did the film ‘Ma Rainey’ for Denzel. So he called me. I could see he was laying down. We were having a conversation. And Simone [Boseman] was with him. He kicked Simone out because she was told he wouldn’t want to hear anything that could get him in trouble with the NDA. She didn’t want to leave him. I could tell that something was not right. But they were joking and laughing.”
Unforeseen in one of those futures was Boseman’s passing, in 2020, from colon cancer. Franchises are built on star power, and without Boseman, one of Marvel’s brightest and most promising, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is haunted by his absence, draped in the kind of sorrow that can’t be ignored. MCU films and series rarely channel the turbulence of grief with such unflinching focus (WandaVision came close in its unconventional depiction of spousal heartache and its psychological aftershocks). The positioning is well thought out. I hesitate to call Wakanda Forever a new kind of superhero blockbuster—it hasn’t totally reinvented the wheel—but it’s close. Coogler has equipped his sequel with a changed vocabulary: It speaks equally from a place of loss as it does triumph. Grief is its mother tongue.
The king is dead, and the eyes of the world are once again on Wakanda. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) has assumed the throne, and, in the year since her son’s passing, done her best to maintain the African nation’s standing as a sovereign power. The only known nation to have it, Wakanda remains rich in vibranium—the mystical ore used to create cutting-edge weaponry and tech—and refuses to share its resources with allies (in one early scene, French soldiers attempt to steal some and quickly get their asses kicked by undercover Dora Milaje agents). Cole and Cooler want to kick-start the story in a way that remembers Greed’s spark for all manner of conflict. The US government begins a vibranium-tracking operation in the Atlantic Ocean but it is mysteriously thwarted by an unknown power—the people of Talokan, an underwater empire home to the only other wellspring of vibranium on Earth.
The wounded leader of the group, Tenoch Huerta Meja, is bent on keeping Talokan a secret. His powers include heightened strength, aquatic regeneration, and flight. ankles)—and commands his nation with a meticulous, if forceful, hand. The sub-Mariner in the comics is called Namor, he hails from Atlantis. The mining operation threatens to expose his oceanic utopia so he devises a plan to stop it: kill the genius scientist who built the vibranium-tracking device (Riri Williams, introducing Ironheart to the MCU) and align with Wakanda against the surface world. But Wakanda refuses. Both nations are staring down at war.
The Story of the Crown starring Camille and Willie de Valmont in Starz: A Fresh Look at Camille Englert and Camille Denton
And with its new series of the same name, Starz offers up a fresh take on the classic tale of scheming and seduction in ancien régime France, focusing on how Camille (played by Alice Englert) and the Vicomte de Valmont (played by Nicholas Denton) came to be lovers – while also taking other lovers.
I’ve watched the first few episodes of the show and I can tell you this: there’s a reason Starz greenlit a second season before the first had even debuted, because it is a luscious period drama.
That (horrible) year included a devastating fire at Windsor Castle, the disintegration of both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew’s marriages, a tell-all book about Princess Diana and some in the public questioning the royal family’s relevance.
We know, of course, that “The Crown” is a dramatization, not a documentary, but it’s still entertaining to imagine at least some of what the show portrays happening in real life.
“Say Hey, Willie Mays!” examines the life and sporting legacy of the Black athlete, who was widely esteemed for his skill on the diamond but faced criticism for not speaking out more about civil rights.
Mays was part of the project, so he has the subject speak for themselves, rather than others.
“Only the Strong Survive” features his takes on classic songs including The Four Tops’ 1981 hit “When She Was My Girl” and The Temptations’ “I Wish It Would Rain.”
In his own memoir, Bruce said he did not think he had a lot of one. “But once I started in on this project, after listening to some of the things we cut, I thought, ‘My voice is badass!’”
Tomlinson has been teasing for some time that he was back in the studio and working on new music. “After living with this album for a while I can’t wait for you all to hear it,” he tweeted in August. “Thank you for allowing me to make the music I want to make.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/entertainment/dangerous-liaisons-crown-english-plc/index.html
Cher, Edwards, and the Box Office Results of the Marvel Film “Wakanda Forever”. AE Edwards and Cher Edwards
The singer, Oscar winner and all-around queen stirred a great deal of interest when she was recently photographed holding hands with rapper and music executive Alexander “AE” Edwards.
Cher being Cher, she responded to some of her Twitter followers who had questions about her and Edwards’ 40-year age gap. Cher is a wonderful 76 andEdwards is 36. Not that it’s anyone’s business.)
Audiences also likely bought a ticket to “Wakanda Forever” to see how the film and director Ryan Coogler would handle the passing of Boseman. In an interview with Empire magazine in September, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige said “It just felt like it was much too soon” to recast the late actor. Boseman died due to colon cancer.
The film scored a sizable box office opening this weekend. The Marvel movie opened to an estimated $180 million in North America, according to the film’s studio, Disney.
The opening of the film made it the highest- grossing debut of November ever and was one of the best of the year. The original record belonged to the movie ” The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. Most in Hollywood thought the box office haul would come in around the same spot.
The sequel, which stars Letitia Wright and an ensemble cast, is a sequel to one of the top-selling films of all time, and comes from the most lucrative brand in all of Hollywood.
As for its critical reception, “Wakanda Forever” notched an 84% score on review site Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences also gave the film an “A” on CinemaScore.
The Disney Channel is Doomed: Suppressing Streaming Production in a $e+e-$ Collision
As for Disney, the media giant’s shares sank 13% Wednesday after the company reported its streaming business lost $1.4 billion last quarter, despite growing its subscriber base.
Disney stock is unaffected because investors are focused on the company’s streaming endeavors. But the strong box office performance helps Disney end a bad week on a high note.