A local drive-in theater in Goochland, Va., was forced to cancel a screening of Marvel Studios' Black Panther in honor of the late Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) star Chadwick Boseman for this weekend after Disney, which owns the comic book movie company, refused to let it show the film.
"Hi everyone.....despite having Black Panther booked for this upcoming weekend to celebrate the life of star Chadwick Boseman, Disney Studios has just now decided, for reasons unknown, to no longer let theaters show the film," the theater wrote on Facebook. It said it was looking to schedule another one of Boseman's films, preferably 42, in which Boseman portrays legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson.
The drive-in eventually did reschedule with 42, which will play this Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. local time. Each viewing will be followed by a screening of Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump and a portion of the proceeds raised by the tickets will be donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of Boseman.
Boseman, who also portrays King T'Challa / Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, died at the age of 43 after battling colon cancer since 2016. Despite progressing from stage III at diagnosis to stage IV, Boseman continued to act, appearing in 2017's Marshall, 2019's 21 Bridges and 2020's Da 5 Bloods. His final film role will be Netflix's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which is based on the play of the same name by George C. Wolfe. He was also scheduled to appear in Marvel's animated series What If...? in a story where T'Challa becomes Star-Lord. It is unclear if Boseman's voice work was completed before his passing.
Black Panther opened in February 2018 to nearly universal critical and audience acclaim. The film grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time, the third-highest-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada and the second-highest-grossing film of 2018. It received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won the awards for Best Costume Design, Best Original Score and Best Production Design.
Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan as N'Jadaka / Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, Daniel Kaluuya as W'Kabi, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Winston Duke as M'Baku, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Forest Whitaker as Zuri and Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue.
(Via NBC12)