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Ryan Coogler thanks fans for 'Wakanda Forever' success in Thanksgiving message, remembers Chadwick Boseman

'We made something to honor our friend, who was a giant in our industry,' said Ryan Coogler

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' director Ryan Coogler graciously expressed his gratitude to fans on Thanksgiving Day after massive success of 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever', which has been a banger at the box office. The last MCU movie of Phase 4 made almost $571 million worldwide, however, it makes the 'Black Panther' sequel the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2022.

The film also received extremely positive reviews from critics, with praise towards Coogler's direction, the action sequences, production and costume design, and the cast's performances in the sequel. Initially, Coogler negotiated to return as director in the following months, and Marvel Studios officially confirmed the sequel's development in mid-2019. However, Coogler feels "blessed" to have made this film and that this movie is a small token of gift to remember his dearly departed friend, Chadwick Boseman. Marvel chose not to recast Boseman's role of T'Challa after he died of colon cancer in August 2020.

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As of November 20, Disney and Marvel’s 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' sent its worldwide cume well past the 500 million dollars mark. Faced with the arduous task of doing a sequel without the OG star, Chadwick Boseman, Coogler acknowledged the film was an “emotional outlet.” However, Coogler is showing gratitude this holiday to fans who have gone out to the movie theater to support Disney and Marvel Studios’ 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.'

“Gratitude. That is the only word that comes to mind for your support of our work on the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I am filled with it,” Coogler wrote in a statement posted on Marvel’s social media accounts. “Thank you to the people who bought their tickets early and camped out opening weekend. Thank you to those of you took their families out - young ones and elders in tow. To those of you who organized youth screenings and afterparties, who bought out theaters for communities and friends. To all of you who watched multiple times, and encouraged other folks to check it out.”

“Our film is over two and a half hours long, so thank you for holding chose bathroom breaks. Our film has 6 Languages spoken in at. Thank you for bearing with the subtitles. And our film deals with the inescapable human emotion of grief. Thank you for opening yourself up to the emotional journey of this film. We made something to honor our friend, who was a giant in our industry, and we also made something to be enjoyed in a theatrical setting friends, family, and strangers,” Coogler added. “Something to be quoted and discussed. To be debated. Something to make people both physically and emotionally feel seen.”

“This medium wouldn’t exist without an audience, and I thank you for giving me professional purpose, and an emotional outlet,” the statement concluded. “I look forward to bringing you more stories in the future.”

Along with Coogler’s signature, the statement includes the tags "Liik'k Talokan", "Wakanda Forever", “Chadwick Forever” and “Long Live T’Challa.”