Day: May 6, 2018

What Happened to Killmonger’s Mother in ‘Black Panther’ May Make You Cry

(If you haven’t seen “Black Panther” by now, you already know spoilers are ahead.)

Erik “Killmonger” Stevens’ story in “Black Panther” just became even more tragic.

The movie’s villain, played by Michael B. Jordan, lost his father N’Jobu (Sterling K. Brown) at the hands of Wakanda’s king T’Chaka (John Kani). But it turns out that he lost his mother, too.

In the recently released Blu-Ray commentary for the movie, director Ryan Coogler shed some light on what N’Jobu and young Zuri (Denzel Whitaker) were up to in the movie’s opening scene.

“The idea was when you see those guys talking over the paperwork in the beginning of the film, they’re talking about a way to break her out of jail,” Coogler said. “The idea was they never got her out, and she passed away in prison, so Killmonger didn’t come up with a mom either.”

Not gonna cry. Nope. **sniff**

N’Jobu’s death is what leads Killmonger to seek revenge on Wakanda, and when T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) finds out that his father killed his uncle, it’s one of the most shocking reveals of the movie.

N’Jobu’s vision for using Wakandan tech to help the outside world eventually becomes realized, even though his son dies in the end, because Black Panther decides to help the outside world at the end of the movie — and we get to see exactly how in “Avengers: Infinity War.” Sorry though, Okoye (Danai Gurira): it’s not by building a Starbucks.

Avengers: Infinity War dominates box office again with $112.5M second weekend

Avengers: Infinity War rages on.

After delivering the biggest box office opening in history last week, Disney and Marvel’s superhero epic is on track to earn an estimated $112.5 million from 4,474 theaters in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, crushing its competitors while scoring the second-best second weekend ever, not adjusted for inflation. Only Star Wars: The Force Awakens has grossed more in its sophomore frame ($149.2 million), and Infinity War will bump Black Panther ($111.7 million) down to third on that list.

That said, Infinity War’s $112.5 million represents a decline of 56 percent from its opening weekend, which is notably steeper than either The Force Awakens (40 percent) or Black Panther (45 percent), and on par with Warner Bros’. ill-fated Justice League, though better than predecessor Avengers: Age of Ultron (59 percent).

After 10 days in theaters, Infinity War’s domestic tally sits at an estimated $450.8 million. This weekend the movie will add about $162.6 million overseas, for an international total of $713.3 million. Infinity War broke the $1 billion barrier at the worldwide box office Saturday, becoming the fastest film ever to do so, and along the way it has passed fellow superhero hits like Thor: Ragnarok ($854 million), 2002’s Spider-Man ($822 million), and Wonder Woman ($822 million).

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and made for close to $300 million, Infinity War marks the third Avengers film and the 19th installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It features heroes from across the MCU franchise — including Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and the Chris Pratt-led Guardians of the Galaxy — and pits them against Thanos (Josh Brolin), an interplanetary warlord trying to erase half the life in the universe.

Infinity War has received generally positive reviews from critics, and moviegoers gave it an A CinemaScore. An untitled sequel is already on the calendar for May 3, 2019.

Unlike last week, when no new major releases went up against against Infinity War, this weekend brought a trio of newcomers: Overboard, a gender-flipped remake of the 1987 rom-com; Tully, a dramedy about motherhood hailing from director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody; and Bad Samaritan, a thriller starring David Tennant.

Buoyed by Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris, Overboard fared best of the three, grossing an estimated $14.8 million from 1,623 theaters, good for second place. Tully, which stars Charlize Theron, took in about $3.2 million from 1,353, landing in the No. 6 spot, and Bad Samaritan just cracked the top 10 with about $1.8 million from 2,007 theaters.

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 5.1 percent year-to-date. Check out the May 4-6 figures below.

1. Avengers: Infinity War — $112.5 million
2. Overboard — $14.8 million
3. A Quiet Place — $7.6 million
4. I Feel Pretty — $4.9 million
5. Rampage — $4.6 million
6. Tully — $3.2 million
7. Black Panther — $3.2 million
8. Truth or Dare — $1.9 million
9. Super Troopers 2 — $1.82 million
10. Bad Samaritan — $1.76 million