By: Zack Sharf, J. Kim Murphy | Variety.com | July 25, 2022
The “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” teaser trailer nabbed 172 million views in its first 24 hours, becoming one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s top trailer debuts for a superhero movie, a source close to Marvel confirmed the viewership number to Variety. The “Wakanda Forever” teaser’s viewership nearly doubled the 88 million views the original “Black Panther” teaser garnered in 2017.
The teaser also set social media ablaze, with topics relating to “Black Panther” garnering over 893,000 mentions. Chadwick Boseman, Namor, Shuri, T’Challa, Ryan Coogler and Angela Bassett all became national trending topics after the teaser’s debut, and the hashtag #WakandaForever held the No. 1 trending spot for over five consecutive hours.
By pulling in 172 million views in its first 24 hours, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” becomes one of the top trailer launches for a standalone Marvel movie following titles like the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” teaser (the biggest ever with 355.5 million views) and the “Thor: Love and Thunder” teaser (209 million views). Four “Avengers” trailers also pulled in bigger numbers: “Avengers: Endgame” teaser (289 million), “Avengers: Endgame” final trailer (268 million), “Avengers: Infinity War” teaser (230 million) and “Avengers: Infinity War” final trailer (179 million).
It should be noted that unlike many of these aforementioned Marvel movies, the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” teaser launched on a Saturday night at around 9:20pm ET. That’s not exactly the most desired time slot for a trailer debut, as most trailers release weekday mornings and take advantage of the workday re-watch factor.
The teaser marked the first unveiling of the “Black Panther” sequel, which marks the next feature film entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The footage showcases the nation of Wakanda going to war against an army of Atlanteans, led by the fearful Namor (Tenoch Huerta). Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba Winston Duke and Angela Bassett are reprising their roles from the original “Black Panther,” joined by series newcomer Michaela Coel, Dominique Thorne, Alex Nivilani and Mabel Cadena.
Riding off the success of the teaser release, Hollywood Records and Marvel Music released a prologue soundtrack for the movie earlier Monday. The soundtrack includes Tems’ cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” which earned acclaim for its prominent feature in the teaser trailer.
Before the teaser was shown to the Hall H crowd at Comic-Con, director Ryan Coogler and several members of the film’s ensemble took the stage to introduce the film and discuss the legacy of the late Chadwick Boseman, who led the original 2018 “Black Panther” before he died in 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer.
“It’s going to be hard to follow that up, but we’ll try,” Coogler told the crowd.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will hit theaters on Nov. 11.
Watch the teaser below.