Written Case Study: Black Panther

Wesley Snipes initially wanted to create the film Black Panther in 1992, to exhibit African themes that he believed Hollywood poorly portrayed. However, after months and years on acting upon the idea it was not until In January 1994, Snipes entered talks with Columbia Pictures to portray Black Panther, and Black Panther co-creator Stan Lee joined the film by March; it had entered early development by May and Snipes had discussions with several different screenwriters and directors about the project, including Mario Van Peebles and John Singleton. However, when the film had not progressed by January 1996, Lee explained that he had not been pleased with the scripts for the project.

3 years later in July 1997, Black Panther was listed as part of Marvel Comics' film slate. Marvel reportedly hired Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti in 1998, who at the time were editors of the Black Panther comics under the Marvel Knights brand. The same year corporate problems at Marvel put the project on hold, while the next August, Snipes was set to produce, and possibly star, in the film. In May 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel to co-produce, finance, and distribute a film based on Black Panther. The film was also distributed by Walt Disney studios and motion pictures. And directed by Ryan Cooglar.

Black Panther’s excitement and success so far has been due to presentation within race by using a nearly all black cast; Although it has taken a while for Marvel to show screen diversity they are still a mixture of races in the film. Expanding the audience. The black panther himself was played by Chad Boseman, he also got paid 5 million for appearing in the film. Other actors were also in the film such as Michael B Jordan, the award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Basset and many more.

With a $200 million budget, Black Panther cost more to make than 2008’s Iron Man ($186 million). It was less expensive than 2016’s Captain America: Civil War ($225 million). 10-15% of the budget went towards the cast.