‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Shuts Down Production Due To Cast Member Injury
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finds itself with a dilemma now on its hands. Writer-director Ryan Coogler and the studio have been forced to shut down production in the wake of an injury sustained by leading actress Letitia Wright back in August.
The injury originally occurred during a stunt take being filmed in Boston. Production was originally supposed to continue without Wright as scenes not involving her character of Shuri could still continue.
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Black Panther was a massive success for Marvel back in 2018 grossing 1.3 billion dollars for the studio. After star actor Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020 from cancer, fans began to speculate on whether or not Shuri would take over the mantle previously held by her brother T'Challa.
Director Ryan Coogler has said he has shot almost all the footage he can without Shuri indicating she does in fact have a large role in the sequel. The hiatus is set to take effect over Thanksgiving weekend which falls on November 25th and the subsequent weekend that follows leaving the future of the sequel up in the air for the time being. A representative for Wright said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:
“Letitia has been recovering in London since September from injuries sustained on the set of Black Panther 2 and is looking forward to returning to work early 2022 [She] kindly asks that you keep her in your prayers.”
The production has primarily been taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been shooting for the past two months. Back in October Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had its release date pushed back from July 8th, 2022 to November 11th, 2022. That date may now be in jeopardy as well leaving the slate wide open for other blockbusters releasing around the same time.
This could open up the release date Black Panther: Wakanda Forever just held. Marvel could also see it as a way to avoid going toe to toe with their "rival" WB/DC Films as The Flash is set to release November 4th just one week before Black Panther 2 was scheduled to drop.
It should be noted that Wakanda Forever was not the only Marvel movie to face a release date change as Marvel decided to push back the entire 2022 release schedule. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness was pushed back from March 25th to May 6th and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was pushed back from February 17th to July 28th. Kevin Feige has maintained that it is all due to scheduling and Marvel having so much open availability on the calendar. It's likely to allow two big movies within the summer season at the movies with February and March being considered dead months at the box office. Thor: Love and Thunder now occupies the July 8th slot once held by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Feige told Variety:
"It's production shifts and changes, and because we have so many slots, we can just shift slots. So, all the Marvel slots are the same, we're just shifting the movies coming out."
With 31 projects announced for the next few years, it is likely Feige and his team finds something to fill the dates either on the film or television side. While delays and injuries are an unfortunate side of the work that goes into a massive production it's definitely not uncommon for major studios to change release dates. It's become even more common amid the pandemic as well. We may see it continue into 2022 as other studios begin making release announcements. This is not the way Ryan Coogler wanted to end 2021 for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but production should resume early on in 2022 given no further issues arise between now and then.
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Source(s): The Hollywood Reporter, Variety