Ava Duvernay could have become the highest earning female director of all time and turned it down, why? Did you know she was given the chance to direct the 14th biggest movie of all time?
Instead the director choose to make one of the biggest critical and commercial movie failures of all time instead – the Disney film, A wrinkle in time. Hind sight is 20/20 of course and Ava is one of the best film director working, that’s why she was initially given Black Panther to direct.
Black Panther part one worldwide box office gross
Black Panther part one was one of Marvel’s first superhero movie starring a Black lead actor and written and directed by Black creatives, has broken records since its debut in 2018.
The film has grossed a massive $1.348 billion US dollars world wide, making it one of the highest grossing films of all time and surpassing even the most lofty expectations. Black Panther was not the first Black superhero to headline his own movie of course.
That honor was first accomplished by Wesley Snipe’s Blade franchise, which is finally getting it’s own reboot.
Ava Duvernay’s loss is Ryan Coogler’s gain
Black Panther part two will finish it’s theatrical run just shy of the $1billion USD milestone, still a massive success given passing of it’s lead actor, the incomparable Chadwick Boseman. In just two films it’s director Ryan Coogler will have made Disney more than $2.5 billion USD, not counting his other hit films.
Ava stated in 2018 that she turned down the director’s chair on the Panther films because there would be too much compromises involved, on her part. To her, a director’s artistic freedom was more important and a major super hero studio film might have come with too much strings attached.
Conclusion
In the end you have to applaud the director for sticking to her principles and what she really believes in. A wrinkle in time was for years regarded as an unfilmable movie, decades before she attempted it.
The Black Panther was and is truly a revolutionary and inspiring film that’s been celebrated around the world, proving that art celebrating Black stories can have unparalleled success if given the platform to do so.
