Naomi Ludlow | Arts & Entertainment Editor
Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time have taken over the box office.
Black Panther has been the No. 1 movie in the world for five consecutive weeks, and A Wrinkle in Time has been trailing right behind it since its opening weekend.
Both movies had African American directors and were provided with substantial budgets of at least $100 million. Ava DuVernay, the director for A Wrinkle in Time, is the first female African American director to ever hold this high of a position in a big-name studio.
In just five weeks of being in theaters, Black Panther surpassed the $1 billion mark worldwide. In every country that it has been released, the film has done exceedingly well, as if it were in the states.
The director behind this magic is Ryan Coogler, who previously directed the movies Fruitvale Station and Creed.
His work in these two movies has led to the more creative and distinctive side of his career.
A Wrinkle in Time, on the other hand, had a diverse cast starring Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and many others.
The movie derived from the book by Madeleine L’Engle and sought to attract families with children between ages 8 and 14. However, following the weekend opening, A Wrinkle in Time wasn’t so successful.
Winfrey and the other stars heavily promoted the movie, with the timing for the release being around spring break. Although the results weren’t exactly as expected, the movie still ranked high with a No. 2 spot in the box office.
The movie is expected to do even better in Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Britain.
The value of Black Panther goes beyond dollar figures.
A tweet about Black Panther said, “[The film had the] most Black people, as dark as me, on screen that I’ve ever seen that wasn’t a comedy or period piece about slavery.”
It is important, especially for younger generations, to have positive representations of African Americans in movies for inspiration. From the directors to the cast, it is imperative to portray positive depictions of the black community.
The Hampton Script 