Cinema

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Oscar Snubs: Idris Elba, ‘Beasts of No Nation’ Top Digital Discussion of Missed Nominations

Alyssa Sage
According to digital content analysis, “Beasts of No Nation” was the film that garnered the most Oscar snub-related online buzz on Thursday following the 2016 Oscar nominations announcement.

SEE MORE:‘The Revenant,’ ‘Mad Max’ Lead Oscar Nominations

Digital marketing company Amobee Brand Intelligence conducted an analysis of all digital content engagement surrounding Oscar nomination upsets on Jan. 14 by assessing over 600,000 mobile, video, web and social sites to measure what people were seeing, reading, interacting and engaging with regarding the topic of Oscar snubs.

Not only was Netflix’s “Beast of No Nation” the most-discussed snub, but the war drama’s lead actor Idris Elba topped the actor category. Ranking second for both the film and actor categories, “Creed” generated 96% as much Oscar snub-related digital engagement as “Beasts of No Nation,” and star Michael B. Jordan received 45% as much chatter as Elba. Coming in third place for film was “Carol,” with Will Smith (“Concussion”) hitting No. 3 in the acting category.

Considering that four of the top five films on the list feature black protagonists and the other focuses on a lesbian relationship, Amobee concluded that a common thread in what audiences considered an Oscar nom upset was the exclusion of minorities. Furthermore, the actor list is topped by three black actors and minority actresses are wholly missing from the list, which calls into question the number of quality roles being granted to minority women.

The company also applied its methodology to director nom snubs, which generated the only list that wasn’t dominated by minorities. Ridley Scott (“The Martian”) topped the list, while Steven Spielberg (“Bridge Of Spies”) and Ryan Coogler (“Creed”) generated 58% and 46% as much digital engagement, respectively.

For the second year in a row, the Academy nominated all white actors, resurrecting the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag on Twitter. The hashtag was birthed largely because “Selma” director Ava DuVernay and actor David Oyelowo were omitted from the 2015 Oscars race. Amobee discovered that #OscarsSoWhite was used 76,644 times between the Oscar nom announcements and 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 14.

Here’s the full rundown of Oscar-snub related data:

Films Most Associated With Oscar Snub
1. “Beasts Of No Nation”
2. “Creed
3. “Carol”
4. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
5. “Straight Outta Compton”
6. “Ex Machina”
7. “Sicario”
8. “Tangerine”
9. “The Good Dinosaur”
10. “Going Clear”

Actors Most Associated With Oscar Snub
1. Idris Elba (“Beasts Of No Nation”)
2. Michael B. Jordan (“Creed”)
3. Will Smith (“Concussion”)
4. Michael Keaton (“Spotlight”)
5. Kristen Stewart (“Clouds Of Sils Maria”)
6. Johnny Depp (“Black Mass”)
7. Jacob Tremblay (“Room”)
8. Helen Mirren (“Trumbo” or “Woman in Gold”)
9. Amy Schumer (“Trainwreck”)
10. Michael Shannon (“99 Homes”)

Directors Most Associated With Oscar Snub
1. Ridley Scott (“The Martian”)
2. Steven Spielberg (“Bridge Of Spies”)
3. Ryan Coogler (“Creed”)
4. Quentin Tarantino (“The Hateful Eight”)
5. Todd Haynes (“Carol”)

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Sicario - Blu-ray review

Denis Villeneuve's Sicario is out on Blu-ray and it's a tense thriller complete with a great picture and excellent sound.
If there's a moment where you think you've got Sicario figured out, then that feeling probably won't last very long. Denis Villeneuve's latest film carries over a few traits from his previous film Prisoners – a sense of mystery and atmosphere – but avoids falling foul of the same cliches.

In Sicario, Villeneuve has crafted a thriller that pulls few punches, making for an absorbing, engaging experience.

One of the film's virtues is that it gives little away, allowing the viewer to soak up the details and attempt to figure the narrative out for themselves. Emily Blunt plays Kate Mercer, an FBI agent leading a kidnap response team. Ostensibly the film's lead, she subsequently finds herself out of her depth in dealing with the drug cartels.

Sicario begins with a raid on a cartel safehouse that turns into something else when her team discovers scores of dead bodies. This leads to Mercer being brought onto an inter-agency team headed by Josh Brolin's Matt Graves. He asks Kate for her help in apprehending those responsible or, as he says with a mischievious smile, "to dramatically overreact". Joining them is Benicio Del Toro's 'cartel specialist' Alejandro, a mysterious figure who, naturally, doesn't play by the rules.

Nothing is truly what it seems, with characters either bending the truth or obstructing Mercer from getting to the bottom of what's happening. The lack of answers the film initially provides isn't a fault, it only serves to draw you into the narrative.

It helps that Blunt, Brolin and Del Toro are on top form. Blunt pitches an idealistic character who's frustrated by being kept in the dark. Brolin has a lot of fun playing an expert in deflection, and in Del Toro's Alejandro, the film has its most intriguing character - one that simmers and then becomes more prominent as the end approaches.

Visually, Sicario has the look of something that's been left in the sun for too long. Sandy yellows and browns dominate with cinematographer Roger Deakins – a multiple Oscar nominee who has never taken home a gold statue – capturing the dusty, desolate, desert locations with great clarity and scope. One scene of the soldiers descending into a valley is wonderfully staged.

Sicario was shot on digitial cameras and the transfer to home video is an excellent one. Detail is excellent – you can almost count the white hairs in Del Toro's beard – with black levels especially good throughout. A thermal vision POV sequence near the end offers little detail but is a good showcase for a TV's black and white contrast.

Sicario is issued with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack that majors on gritty realism. There's a naturalistic vibe, whether it's the echoes of a voice during an interrogation or a thrilling sequence involving a convoy of US agents and Mexican police racing through Juarez. Bumps in the road, engine sounds and tyre squeals are reproduced with a convincing reality that makes you feel involved in the action.

Then there's J?hann J?hannsson's score which errs towards sound design. Its mix of string orchestration, percussion and pulsating bass (your subwoofer will love it) is typified by one of the film's standout tracks, The Border. This release by Lionsgate also has a Dolby Atmos soundtrack for those who want a more engrossing surround sound mix.

You wouldn't call Sicario a delight to watch, but that would be missing the point. Instead it's a taut, engrossing crime drama that keeps its audience on its toes.

It's a top-notch release with an excellent transfer and high-quality soundtrack (your sub will get a work out). At two hours long, Sicario doesn't outstay its welcome, with its final few scenes sticking in the memory once the credits roll.

It's one of 2015's best films and a fine home cinema disc.

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The Queue: Ride Out the Storm With These On-Demand Disaster Movies

As you may be aware, a monster blizzard is threatening to blanket the East Coast in snow this weekend. The National Weather Service is forecasting up to two feet in some locations, with wind gusts topping 50 mph.

It’s the latest in a series of heavy weather incidents that have put the country on edge. When the weather outside is frightful, it’s time for movie night at home, I always say.

In the thematic spirit, we recommend five natural-disaster movies you can get on-demand, via various modes of digital distribution. Unfortunately, none of the good weather-related disaster movies are currently in the streaming subscription bins at Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. So we’ve provided links for digital rental or purchase through iTunes and Amazon Video. Also be sure to check on-demand offerings through your cable, satellite, or game-console network.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

When selecting a good disaster movie, put a premium on spectacle — big visuals, big sound, big effects budget. That’s why you don’t see a lot of small indie disaster movies. (Although there are some good ones.)

The Day After Tomorrow is a 21st-century take on the classic disaster movies of the 1970s, with mounds of catastrophic eye candy piled on top. In the film, climate change has triggered massive hemisphere-spanning storms and a subsequent planetary freeze. The big-budget special effects still pack a wallop, 10 years later.

Twister (1996)

Let’s be frank: Twister is not a good movie. But then it was never intended to be. This super-tornado disaster drama from the summer of 1996 is little more than a sequence of special-effects showcases, stitched together with Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and a goofy B-movie script.

The upside is, now that it has aged properly, Twister can be appreciated with a degree of ironic removal — like The Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure. Enjoy the campy dialogue, but pay attention to those ominous images of mean skies and massive tornadoes. They’re deployed with real skill and are designed to hit you right in the brain stem. As a species, we’ve been scared of this stuff for a long, long time.

The Perfect Storm (2000)


Based on a true story, The Perfect Storm is another good excuse to surrender your critical faculties and binge on spectacle. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg headline as Gloucester, Mass., hard guys on a commercial fishing boat that finds itself in the wrongest of places at the wrongest of times.

The film’s skillful mix of practical and digital effects results in some of the best heavy-weather sequences ever put to film. And the movie’s climactic money shot — featuring the mother of all rogue waves — is still a doozy.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)



If you really want to scare yourself with a natural-disaster movie, look no further than An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 Oscar winner for Best Documentary. The film famously documents the traveling multimedia presentation given by former Vice President Al Gore on the dangers of global warming and anthropogenic climate change.

Director Davis Guggenheim is among the planet’s leading experts at structuring this kind of issue-oriented documentary film. It’s amazing how much information a skilled filmmaker can pack into two hours. You get plenty of images of scary storms and weather too. An Inconvenient Truth plays like a v?rit? disaster movie in slow motion, with special effects replaced by raw footage and infographics.




For a disaster-movie curveball selection, consider this modest little offering from 2014. What’s fun about Pompeii is that it’s actually two movies in one. The first half is a kind of Gladiator-lite story of swords and sandals in ancient Rome, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Game of Thrones hunk Kit Harington.

Then everything goes abruptly bananas with the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The film switches into a historical disaster movie as the village of Pompeii is buried in flaming boulders and burning ash. Volcanic eruptions may be low on our collective list of natural-disaster anxieties, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

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50 Years and Counting: 'Star Trek' Writers Explain Its Serious Staying Power

On the bridge of the starship Enterprise from left: Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura, William Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley, William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie and unidentified actor on the Star Trek: The Original Series episode 'Space Seed.' The original air date was Feb. 16, 1967.
The starship Enterprise first hit television screens on Sept. 8, 1966. Since then, it's become a global phenomenon, spanning 700-plus individual episodes of television and more than dozen feature films, including this year's "Star Trek Beyond."

There are events going on all over the globe to commemorate the anniversary, and a brand-new box set of remastered episodes on Blu-ray with every adventure of the original crew from screens big and small.

What is it that's given "Star Trek" its remarkable staying power? That's the question we put to David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana, two writers who have helped bring "Star Trek" to life over the years.


"The stories still ring true, even now," Fontana told us. She was one of the first writers to work on the original "Star Trek" series and wrote the pilot for "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It was the message "Star Trek" had that she felt gave it staying power.


"You sit down and you watch one and you get the message from the middle of the story, the one we were hiding behind science fiction, whether it was about feminism or racism or, you know, the Vietnam War, which nobody else could talk about but we could under the guise of science fiction," Fontana said.


Of course, "Star Trek" has made waves for many, including aliens, women and blacks, from the beginning. It even featured one of TV's first interracial kisses — between William Shatner's Captain Kirk and Nichelle Nichols' Lieutenant Uhura.


Writer David Gerrold was in college when "Star Trek" premiered on television, and he instantly began sending pitches for episodes into the studio. He's perhaps most famous as the writer who brought us the furry Tribbles and their love of the advanced space-grain quadrotriticale in the original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles."

Over the phone, he told us that the success of "Star Trek" can be attributed to three things. The first part was that the show was fun. The second part was that it presents a "positive vision of the future where we're all thriving and working on interesting challenges."
He insisted that the third part of the franchise's longevity, however, isn't immediately obvious. "[The show] says that everybody's included; we're all going to be a part of the future. Nobody's being left out," Gerrold noted.

"In the past, television as a medium tended to erase," Gerrold elaborated. "Originally it erased blacks and Asians, and when they were included, it erased gay people. It didn't recognize the contributions that women make. And, so, 'Star Trek' was saying, look, here's women captains and black people and Asian people and now we have gay people and Klingons. So, it didn't matter who you were, 'Star Trek' says, you're part of this. And that's very important to the little kid watching TV at home wondering if he's going to be a part of the future."


Over the years, "Star Trek" has boldly offered a vision of the future that audiences have been able to look up to. With a new series called "Star Trek: Discovery" helmed by Bryan Fuller coming in January 2017, fans can only hope that "Star Trek" lasts another 50 years and beyond.

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Kushti: The Traditional Mud Wrestling of India and Pakistan

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Kushti is an ancient form of wrestling native to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and some historians see it as a precursor to the more well-known Greco-Roman wrestling style.
We humans find a lot of ways to express our competitive tendencies and compare our relative skills. There's throwing an orange sphere through a ring horizontal to the ground. There's sliding a weird weighted hunk across the ice. There's even galloping about on fantasy sticks. And if you want to add rolling around in the mud to the list, look no further than the South Asian sport of kushti, a form of wrestling also known as pehlwani. The freestyle matches last about half an hour, and a wrestler typically wins by simultaneously pinning an opponent's shoulders and hips to the ground. Learn more about this ancient sport in the images below.

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The monkey god Lord Hanuman represents strength and bravery and is the kushti patron god. Many kushti training centers have a shrine to the deity. SUBHENDU

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The traditional gyms and training centers for kushti are known as akhara. A typical akhara training regimen focuses on strength, weight and flexibility.

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Most akhara these days use modern gym mats, but those with mud and dirt floor still exist, particularly in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

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Kushti wrestlers are known as pehlwans, and the sport is known as pehlwani in Pakistan. The sport evolved during the Mughal Empire, roughly around the 17th century C.E. It combines native Indian malla-yuddha wrestling (a sport dating back 2,600 years) with influences from Persian varzesh-e bastanil wrestling.

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Pehlwans often live, cook and eat together in their akhara, and form small communities. The akhara are one of the few places in India where men of different caste backgrounds are supposedly treated equally.

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The special clay used in kushti pits is primarily dirt, but can also contain oil, buttermilk, yogurt, ghee (clarified butter), ochre or ground turmeric.

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While boxers may bump gloves to start a match, opposing kushti wrestlers will throw small amounts of dirt on themselves and each other as a blessing.

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Pehlwans can live ascetic lives, often cutting out smoking, alcohol and sex from their daily lives.

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In the same way that yoga practice carries meaning beyond the physical, kushti wrestling also has spiritual, moral and ethical dimensions.

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Wrestlers seek to simultaneously pin their opponent's shoulders and hips to the ground, though there are other ways of winning, including knockouts.

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Kushti wrestlers had great success in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and since then Indian authorities have sought to modernize the practice by shutting some traditional gyms.
https://vimeo.com/77211386

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Kevin Feige Amusingly Responds to James Cameron’s Superhero Criticisms

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Marvel Studios head and MCU mastermind Kevin Feige cleverly addresses James Cameron’s comments criticizing the comic book film genre. Building his career on the backs of superhero narratives, the 44-year-old Feige was expected to have the perfect rebuttal to Cameron’s arguments. But instead of making it a bigger issue than it should be, he opted to navigate his way out of the tricky question in the most clever way possible.

While everyone is gearing up for a huge Marvel week with the arrival of Avengers: Infinity War, it seems likely that the veteran sci-fi director won’t be joining the legion of fans seeing the epic blockbuster come opening weekend, following his latest comments regarding superhero films. Specifically citing the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Cameron criticized the flicks for their “hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process,” and blatantly said that he hopes that the audience will soon get fatigued from these types of stories.
Sitting down with Vulture during Infinity War’s press junket, Feige was asked for comments regarding Cameron’s recent tirade. The interviewer quoted the director and out of everything that he said about comic book movies, the Marvel Studios boss zeroed in on the filmmaker’s disclaimer quote that “[It’s] not that [he] I [doesn’t] don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on, guys” – obviously an attempt to soften his statements , but it was enough for Feige to form the perfect reply “Uh, he loves the movies! That’s awesome! Wow, James Cameron loves our movies! That’s exciting,” he said.

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This is not the first time that Cameron had some words for the popular film genre. Last year, he criticized Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman for its supposed depiction of a heroine and calling it “a step backward” regarding how Hollywood represents strong female characters on the big screen. Director Patty Jenkins eventually responded to the jab, but unlike Feige seemingly trying to brush it off with his own brand of humor (likely so the issue won’t be blown out of proportion), the filmmaker released a statement that was profound, sensible and dignified.

It’s uncertain where Cameron’s dislike (because despite his disclaimers, it doesn’t seem like he’s a big fan) for comic book movies is coming from. These films have tremendously helped the struggling box office in the last few years, not to mention introduced the movie-going culture to a whole new generation of fans. While there are questionable films (just like in every genre), there are revolutionary ones like Wonder Woman and Black Panther leading the charge for proper female and racial representation in Hollywood. One wonders if the filmmaker has had a chance to have a chat with Zoe Saldana – who will reprise her role as Neytiri in the long-delayed Avatar sequels – and is also a part of the Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, considering the actress’ recent comments about elitists in the industry who look down on superhero flicks.

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Chris Evans: Captain America is “Dangerous” in Infinity War

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Chris Evans hints at a “dangerous” Captain America in Avengers: Infinity War. One of the three cornerstone actors of the MCU (joining Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth), the 36-year-old’s stint as the star-spangled-wearing hero may be coming to a close, but there are still a lot of stories about him left to be told in the upcoming twin Avengers sequels. The actor hasn’t joined the rest of the massive cast for the epic blockbuster’s global press tour because of his debut Broadway commitment in Lobby Hero, but that didn’t stop him from promoting the newest Marvel flick.

Cap is probably the most changed Avenger since the last time people saw him in Captain America: Civil War. Following his conflict with Tony Stark/Iron Man and the Government, eventually becoming a vigilante, Steve Rogers is currently on a very different path than the one he originally envisioned himself to be on. And the lack of structure in his life, without having anyone to answer to but himself, has given him a bit of a space to devote time to whatever he thinks is the right thing to do.
Evans discussed these sentiments in a recent interview with USA Today, admitting that since his first days of becoming a super soldier in the ’40s, this is the first time that Cap has lacked “structure” in his lifestyle. However, this doesn’t make him any less of a hero. Fans know from the tie-in prelude comics that while he’s under the radar, he kept fighting the good fight by fighting ISIS alongside Black Widow and Falcon.

“He’s such a monastic character and he has such a quotidian approach to his existence. I imagine when he wakes up in the morning, there is a routine. Part of that is in his nature, part of that is just to keep his sanity, and that all kind of goes out the window a little bit after (2016’s Captain America: Civil War). You see a guy who doesn’t stop caring but just puts down some of that obligation.”

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Cap’s new-found spontaneity may have allowed him to try the things he wants to do, but it also has some ramifications on his characterization. Evans added that because this is a relatively new lifestyle for Steve, he now has a bit of a tendency to let go of a bit too much control regarding his actions. And based on the actor’s comments, it seems like fans will be seeing a harder, more ruthless version of the character come Infinity War – in hindsight, something that the Avengers probably needs considering how dangerous Thanos is.

“I don’t think it’s in his nature to be too much of a loose cannon, but there’s a lack of formality. He’s checked all that at the door and he’s gone inside himself for a little while, and as a result, he’s a little irreverent and maybe even a little dangerous.”

Weeks ago, film directors Joe and Anthony Russo seemed to be teasing Cap as Nomad – an alternate persona of Steve Rogers in the comics – a man without a country. Having said that, no official confirmation has been made that he’ll be known as that moving forward, similar to how his best pal, Bucky Barnes is no longer the Winter Soldier, but the White Wolf. Fans won’t have to wait long to find out, given that Avengers: Infinity War is set to hit theaters in less than a week.

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No Hall H Panel for Marvel Studios at SDCC This Year

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Excited to find out what the title of Avengers 4 is or learn what the first few movies of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are? Don’t expect to find out at Comic-Con International in San Diego this summer.

Today during day two of the Avengers: Infinity War press junket in Hollywood, on the eve of the world premiere of the film, we spoke with the cast, directors, writers, and the mastermind himself, Kevin Feige. Feige tells us that while Marvel and Marvel Studios will certainly have a presence at SDCC 2018, there will not be a Hall H panel.
This is no doubt a disappointment to many who fought tooth and nail for a ticket for the Saturday of the event, traditionally the largest day for Hall H panels from film studios, and those who of course had to endure the hotel lottery. And with Solo: A Star Wars Story coming in May – the first Star Wars film to debut outside of December since Disney acquired Lucasfilm – will Disney have a panel at all on the film front this year? There’s not even a D23 event this year either.
Here’s specifically what Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios president of production, told our own Joseph Deckelmeier minutes ago:

“We’re going to do um, of course, Marve will have a presence there.Marvel Studios will have a presence there only in that there will be 10th-anniversary materials and a 10th-anniversary panel. Not doing Hall H this year”

Even if Avengers 4 and Phase 4 details weren’t in the cards anyway, the timing would have been perfect for a title reveal and to tease the first footage of Captain Marvel which is already deep into production. Ant-Man and the Wasp will already be in theaters two weeks before the convention.

Celebrating ten years directly with the fans at the venue where it all started would have been a great move too but this doesn’t rule out them having a major presence still. Costumes, props, set pieces, and even some of the stars themselves have graced the Marvel booth on the San Diego Comic-Con show floor almost every year they’ve had a panel so there’s still hope for something special for the fans to celebrate the 10-year anniversary. Otherwise, this is the weirdest year to take off. It’s the beginning of the end of the current iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after all!

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Watch Anthony Mackie Hilariously Explain Infinity War’s Plot

Actor Anthony Mackie, one of the stars of Avengers: Infinity War, recently gave a hilarious summation of the movie’s plot while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Given that Mackie couldn’t say too much with the high level of secrecy surrounding the highly anticipated film, his summary left Fallon with more questions than answers.

Anthony Mackie first entered The Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: The Winter Soldier playing the role of Sam Wilson – a former United States Air Force pararescueman who was befriended by Captain America. Taking the codename Falcon, Wilson helped Captain America and Black Widow in foiling a plot to take over SHIELD. This earned him a place among The Avengers at the end of Age of Ultron and led to a fight at Avengers headquarters with Scott Lang during the events of Ant-Man. He was last seen among the imprisoned allies of Captain America at the end of Civil War.
The video of Mackie’s interview with Jimmy Fallon can be viewed above. The relevant section starts at around the 7:00 mark. In addition to describing the broad plot of the film, Mackie also discusses the proper pronunciation of the name of the film’s main villain, Thanos, The Mad Titan.”It’s tricky. So there’s a dude name Thay-NOSE,” starts Mackie. “Or Thay-NAWS, wherever you’re from.”

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Mackie goes on to describe how Thanos is seeking The Infinity Stones. He also discusses how Captain America assembles the various heroes of Earth (not just The Avengers) to meet the threat that Thanos poses. Fallon questioned some of the dialogue that Mackie quoted. such as Steve Rogers’ request that they all “slide through, right quick...” “It was a rewrite! The original script is not the script you see!” exclaimed Mackie.

Humorous as Mackie’s description is, it tells us little that had not already been gleaned from the trailers or from the basic plot of The Infinity Gauntlet – the classic Marvel Comics mini-series which is believed to have provided most of the inspiration for the base plot of Avengers: Infinity War. While many comics have detailed Thanos’ efforts to acquire the six Infinity Gems and use their power for various schemes, The Infinity Gauntlet was the first and is still widely considered to be the best. We can rest assured, however, based on Mackie’s narrative, that The Avengers will “meet up with Thanos (and) give him the business” before the end of the movie.

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Avengers: Infinity War is ‘Not Black Panther 1.5 or Black Panther 2’

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Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman has reassured fans that Avengers: Infinity War will be far more than a sequel to his popular solo film.

It’s clear that Black Panther’s tremendous box office success will transform the MCU. A sequel is certainly in the cards, and there were recent hints that Ryan Coogler will be returning as director. In the meantime, though, Infinity War‘s entire third act is set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda. Feige was confident of Black Panther‘s success, and insisted on being “all in on stuff we believe in, before the audience tell us what they think.” As is so often the case for Marvel, it’s paid off. Recognizing Black Panther‘s popularity, the marketing for Infinity War has gradually turned towards promoting the Wakandan section of the film.
Speaking at a press conference for Infinity War, Chadwick Boseman stressed that this doesn’t mean Infinity War will simply feel like a sequel. “Avengers: Infinity War is Avengers: Infinity War,” he insisted. “It’s not Black Panther 1.5 or Black Panther 2. I feel like we have a strong presence in the movie… But it’s its own thing.”

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Wakanda will play an important role in the film. In fact, production teams for Black Panther and Infinity War worked together closely. Marvel’s official Art of Black Panther book revealed just how much trouble Marvel had taken in order to develop the fictional African nation; they’d literally drawn up a map of the entire country, locating each of the tribal homesteads. That level of detail will have greatly helped Infinity War‘s screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who had to consider where in Wakanda each scene will be set.

But Boseman’s comment suggests that Infinity War will still retain a strong sense of balance. That’s certainly the correct approach, given this is the 10-year anniversary celebration of the MCU. Infinity War will bring to an end a decade’s worth of plot threads, with Thanos pursuing the unlimited power of the Infinity Gauntlet. Major character arcs will finally come to a head, as Tony Stark faces the alien invasion he has feared since 2012’s The Avengers. And popular and much-loved heroes are expected to die; the odds don’t look to be in Steve Rogers’s favor. While it’s entirely right that Wakanda be part of the celebration, Black Panther is only the latest of Marvel’s tremendous successes. This film is far, far more important than any Black Panther sequel.

Of course, the one remaining question is how Wakanda will be affected by Thanos’s attack. In the comics, the African nation was left devastated. The big-screen invasion looks every bit as dramatic as the one realized by Jonathan Hickman in 2013’s Infinity event, and Boseman has promised “lasting ramifications.” When the inevitable Black Panther sequel is finally released, no doubt it will explore those ramifications.