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The Preview Reel: Black Panther and Early Man

Scott Davis
The Preview Reel

Welcome to this week’s “Preview Reel” column, wherein we look at the week’s upcoming wide-release movies. Fifty Shades Freed ended the franchise on a high note with a first-place finish, but its reign will be short-lived with a new Marvel film storming into theaters. Black Panther is riding a huge wave of hype as early reactions have it pegged as one of the best superhero movies ever, but there is one other wide-release in Aardman Animations’ Early Man. Black Panther will easily win the week, but are both worth seeing this weekend?

 

Black Panther

What we are excited about: This is more than just the typical Marvel movie. Black Panther is an important movie for so many people on many levels. As the weeks have been building to the release, it really does feel like the film is having a cultural impact, while also looking undoubtedly cool. The trailers have a different vibe and feel to them from most Marvel movies, and we are totally here for that. Director Ryan Coogler has two tremendous movies under his belt, Fruitvale Station (2013) and Creed (2015), and looks to make the jump to mainstream status with this movie. Black Panther made his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War (2016), almost two years ago, and fans have been anxiously awaiting his own movie. With great looking trailers, a promising director, and a good debut in Civil War, there is no reason to not be excited for Black Panther.

What we are worried about: While the trailers or any of the promotional material don’t really give us any pause, we are aware of Marvel fatigue. Marvel tends to screen their movies a couple weeks in advance letting the buzz build until it opens, but it does get a little exhausting reading reviews saying their new movie is “the best Marvel movie yet.” It happened with Thor: Ragnarok (2017) last November as many critics pegged it as one of the best superhero movies ever, and maybe that hype led many to be slightly disappointed with the movie. Ragnarok was fine, but it was not one of the best superhero movies ever, and we’re wondering if that hype will hurt Black Panther. There is nothing wrong with being just a fine superhero movie, but sometimes the hype oversells a movie. We’ll have to see if that’s the case with Black Panther.

The Buzz: As we said earlier, the hype for this movie has been building for weeks and it is going to be a huge hit for Marvel. The debate is about how huge it will be. Reviews have been stellar—97% on RottenTomatoes and 87 on MetaCritic—which will certainly help its cause. Projections are all over the place for this movie, but we’ll predict a $150 million opening with the potential of it opening even higher than that.

Final Thoughts: This is the first blockbuster of the year and is earning stellar reviews, that’s enough for us to go to the theater.

 

Early Man

What we are excited about: This is the latest offering from Aardman Animations, who has given us movies like Chicken Run (2000), Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015). While none of those have been box-office smashes, the studio has produced Academy Award®-winning movies in the past, so they have a prestigious history. They might not be as popular as Pixar or DreamWorks, but Aardman Animations is a studio worthy of recognition.

What we are worried about: While the studio has a nice history, that doesn’t mean that every movie they release gets a pass. The premise of Early Man looks silly and just doesn’t feel like anything special. If the premise was a bit cleverer or the trailer had better jokes, maybe we’d be excited for this movie, but it just doesn’t look special.

The Buzz: Most of the buzz is surrounding Black Panther, and Peter Rabbit actually did better than expected at the box office, so Early Man might have trouble with its counter-programming strategy. Reviews for the movie have been mostly good as it sits at 84% on RottenTomatoes and 67 on MetaCritic, so we’ll see if that draws any more people to the theater. As of now, we will predict a soft $6 million.

Final Thoughts: Black Panther seems to be the bigger draw this weekend, but this might be a decent family fallback option.

Scott Davis

Scott Davis is a recent graduate of Oakland University where he earned a degree in journalism. He worked for the student newspaper on campus, The Oakland Post, where he became the paper's managing editor. He also earned a minor in Cinema Studies at OU. Scott enjoys all things film and TV related, especially the blockbuster kind. He might be the biggest Christopher Nolan fan you know.
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