Blaxploitation

In the 1970's there was a blaxploitation boom.

Marketing black cinema- economic factors

Blaxplotaition films proved extremely popular with a male, inner city, black working class demographic. But broadly they were produced by white filmmakers and financiers as a way of reaching a previously unreachable audience. In short, like any other film, their producers were motivated by profit and power. 

Key theory 12- power and media industries, Curran and Seaton

The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by profit and power. Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality. 

More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varied and adventurous media productions.

Black Panther fact file-

-Production company; Marvel Studios

-Distributor; Walt Disney studio motion pictures

-Director; Ryan Coogler

-Cinematographer; Rachel Morrison

-Composer; Ludwig Goransson

-Editor; Michael P Shawver, Debbie Berman

-Primary cast; Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira

-Box office; 1.344 Billion usd. Black Panther's domestic total for its first seven days brings it to $292 million, per Variety, $22 million more than The Avengers made in its first week back in 2012. It's also made $228 million internationally, for a $520 million worldwide total.

-Budget; 200 Million usd

-Critical reception;  97% rotten tomatos, 88% Metacritic, 7.3/10 imdb

- 15 versions of this film were made

-Advertising cost; 37 million usd

-This version was Announced in 2005, first version announced in 1992

- Grossed 105 million dollars in China

- Parts were shot in Africa

The latest big-screen superhero story is a subversive and uproarious action-adventure, in which African stereotypes are upended and history is rewritten. Full review

Peter Bradshaw
The Guardian

Virtually everything that distinguishes "Black Panther" from past Marvel pics works to this standalone entry's advantage. Full review

Peter Debruge
Variety

Director Ryan Coogler introduces us to a vibrant and unique new universe, and it's hard to stop gaping. Full review

Raja Sen
NDTV

Production history; Black Panther, comic strip superhero created for Marvel Comics by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four no. 52 (July 1966). Seeking to address the dearth of black characters in comics, Lee and Kirby created T’Challa, a member of the royal family of the fictional African country of Wakanda. 
The Black Panther joined the Avengers in 1968, where he became a mainstay for the next several years. Although the character predated the revolutionary political organization of the same name, Marvel briefly changed the Black Panther’s name to the Black Leopard in an attempt to dissociate the two. A short time later he was back to being the Black Panther again, and in 1973 he headlined his own book for the first time. The “Panther’s Rage” story arc ran for two years in Jungle Action, a series written by Don McGregor and drawn for the most part by the African American artist Billy Graham. Reflecting the times’ interest in African roots and black consciousness in general, the strip returned T’Challa to a Wakanda riven by infighting and sedition, where he managed to balance superheroics with musings on colonialism and democracy. For the duration of the tale, the strip featured an all-black cast, something that had never before been attempted in mainstream superhero comics, and the innovations continued in a later story, which saw the Panther take on the Ku Klux Klan.

Poor sales prompted Marvel to cancel Jungle Action before the Klan story was finished, and it was replaced in 1977 with a new Black Panther title by Jack Kirby. This new direction was as far from the gritty realism of McGregor’s tales as it is possible to imagine, as it featured a time-traveling frog statue said to belong to King Solomon, the Yeti, and a group of Wakandan nobles known as the Black Musketeers. This title too was short-lived. Sporadic appearances over the next two decades kept the Black Panther in the Marvel firmament, but he was increasingly marginalized. Miniseries in 1988 and 1991 were solid, if unspectacular, attempts at revitalizing what was effectively a lapsed franchise. The first tackled apartheid, and the second dealt with the Panther’s search for his mother, but neither led to anything substantial. With black characters no longer a comics novelty and with role models such as the characters of Milestone Comics—which had more relevance to their readers than a wealthy African king—it seemed as if the Panther’s time had passed.

In 1998 writer Christopher Priest reintroduced the hero as part of the slightly more adult “Marvel Knights” line, in a critically acclaimed series that continued until 2003. For this reinvention, a now aging T’Challa returns to the urban jungle of New York in a deftly written political thriller that balances intrigue with no small amount of humour. Priest’s run on the comic introduced the Dora Milaje, a team of female bodyguards drawn from all the tribes of Wakanda. Film director Reginald Hudlin was the initial writer on both the Black Panther series that ran from 2005 to 2008 and the next one, which ran from 2009 to 2010. During this time T’Challa was briefly married to Storm of the X-Men, a union that joined Marvel’s most prominent male and female African superheroes. T’Challa also became a member of the Illuminati, a secret group of the brightest and most powerful members of Marvel’s superhero community.

National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates was tasked with writing the relaunched Black Panther comic, and the debut issue was one of the best-selling comics of 2016. The Black Panther entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) later that year in Captain America: Civil War, a blockbuster that cast Chadwick Boseman as the Wakandan prince. The character subsequently experienced something of a renaissance, with the success of Coates’s flagship title leading to the release of Black Panther: World of Wakanda, a series that explored Wakanda’s other heroes, and Black Panther & the Crew, a street-level story set in Harlem. Each of those titles was canceled after just six issues, however, because of low sales.

Director Ryan Coogler helmed Black Panther (2018), a dazzling spectacle that saw Boseman return to the screen in the role of T’Challa. Perhaps the MCU’s best-reviewed film to date, Black Panther examined race, gender, and power issues through an Afrofuturist lens and featured an ensemble cast that included Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, and Angela Bassett. The Black Panther and his fellow Wakandans figured prominently in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the blockbuster culmination of 10 years of filmmaking in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Film is a specialised institution. How has ownership shaped the production and distribution of black panther?

Major vs Indie

A major film is owned by a major company like disney or universal. They have a clear narrative and high production values with professional actors- giving it star appeal. They use 360 marketing strategies and have a lot of mainstream advertising and is distributed through large companies. Often focus on cgi. Use copyrighted music. Extravagant settings.

An independent (indie) film is not associated with a major company. They often have unclear or complex narratives and low production values with amateur actors- no star appeal. Becomes known through word of mouth and is distributed through film festivals. Often don't use cgi. Don't use copyrighted music. Basic settings.