Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might be Marvel Studios’ first and only movie of 2022 to gross over 1BN USD at the box office. The numbers are in, and it is now expecting an opening weekend gross of $174 million to $184 million domestically. Including the global and domestic box office, the cume is $148.7M.
Riri Williams’ Suit Was Entirely Practical
In an interview with Variety, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actor Dominique Thorne revealed that unlike most MCU suits, Ironheart/Riri Williams’ Mark I was fully practical. She described it as clunky, but smart.
“Unlike some of the other suits that may be added in later with visual effects, the Mark I was all practical. To get to feel the weight of that on my body and just understand how it moves — you almost want to say it’s clunky, but when you have it on, you realize, “Oh, this is actually such a smart build, like all my joints are free so I have so much movement. But also, this is heavy as hell. And it flies? Whoa!” The doors open wide into Riri’s mind and how she thinks, what she saw was possible and then actualized.”
Dominique Thorne
Via Variety
She added that it took her more than two weeks for her to get used to the armor’s weight. For comparison, Robert Downey Jr. just used to wear a reference suit, which was lightweight and got replaced with a digital suit in post-production.
The Ironheart star said that the suit weighed “52.5 pounds, and that’s without one piece”, which was exactly half her body weight.
“After the first time that I went up in the air on wires — it couldn’t have been more than like two weeks [into filming] — walking around in it became a lot easier. They just told me the weight of it like a month ago. They waited until we were done.”
Dominique Thorne
Via Variety
This timelapse video sums up how difficult is was just to put the suit on and off, for multiple days.
From ‘Wakanda Forever’ to ‘Ironheart’
Dominique Thorne said that it is an honor to lead her own series, Ironheart, which just wrapped filming last week. The series is set to release during Fall 2023.
“It’s such an honor, honestly, and such a joy. I had some inkling about what it might be like to shift gears in that way, but definitely could not have anticipated some of the lessons learned, or the deepening of this perspective that I feel like I now have. Overall, it’s been a beautiful journey.
Dominique Thorne
She’s such a gift of a character to play and because this was a preexisting character, to have her shaped, and molded, and more-or-less defined by the words and through the eyes of Ryan Coogler, and of Miss Chinaka Hodge [“Ironheart’s” head writer] for this series is truly a blessing, truly a gift. I really do feel like I’m getting the chance to play a full well-rounded human being, with the full scope of emotions and shit going on, and all the things that make us as people interesting.”
Via Variety
Marvel 2022 Release Schedule
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: 11 November 2022
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: December 2022
