Black Panther Case Study

Black Panther is an upcoming film as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe owned by the conglomerate Disney. The film's primary production company is Marvel Studios who produce most if not all of the films linked to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Another production company with significant contributions to the production of Black Panther is Colombia Pictures.

The cast of Black Panther include very few notable actors, casting well known actors such as Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman. Of course the most paramount actor in the film's production is Chadwick Boseman who plays the film's protagonist and was chosen to play Black Panther in a previous film linked to the MCU; Captain America: Civil War. According to the actor he did not require an official audition in order to be casted as Black Panther unlike his colleagues such as Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans who had to audition to be casted as Iron Man and Captain America. Multiple sources seem to suggest that Chadwick Boseman's pay for Black Panther is estimated to be just under $900,000 which when compared to his colleagues may seem like he is being underpaid. Although it is likely that with the potential success of Black Panther, the actor's pay will continue to increase for his next films.

According to an article by Bethany Biron the production budget for Black Panther was stated to be $200 million. This does not include the marketing campaign and advertising for the film as those have a separate distribution budget. As it is a Marvel film is it well known that the bulk of the film's production budget would be spent on the CGI for the setting and the action sequences. Surprisingly, Black Panther was given a higher production budget than Marvel's other recent films. The soundtrack for the film may have had a greater cost than what a Marvel soundtrack would cost as it was an original soundtrack produced by an iconic american rapper and songwriter Kendrick Lamar whilst also featuring more current music icons such as Swae Lee, Travis Scott and The Weeknd. The rest of the films budget probably went into paying the cast, choreography and costuming (it should be noted that some costumes such as the Panther suit were enhanced with CGI making them much more costly in comparison to the other costumes.

Of course like most blockbuster films, the production budget paled when compared with the budget for the marketing campaign. Black Panther is very significant to the black community and diversity within the film industry along with the rise of black power in the media. Marvel and Disney saw this as an opportunity to promote Black Panther or rather have the audience do it through viral marketing. Currently Black Panther is the most tweeted film of the year. As standard, the film was promoted through trailers online and commercials on television, billboards and interviews with the producers, directors and cast members. The film was strategically premiered and released in cinemas in black history month to give audiences the impression that the film is a significant marking in the achievement of black actors in the film industry and the black community as a whole. With the concept of Fordism applied, Disney had made the decision to release the film relatively around the same time and close to its premiere release similar to Jaws that was released across the United States when first released. This of course does increase distribution costs and is much more difficult to efficiently accomplish however when taking a look at Black Panther's box office success in the first week of the film's release this method may have benefited the studios and the conglomerate.

Being a superhero film. there most definitely would be some licensed products available for purchase for the audience. These include clothing items, accessories, toys and action figures. Some of these licensed products may be aimed at more specific audiences like the toys which when judging the size of them such as the masks, it is presumed to be made for children. Other licensed products such as keyrings and pendants were produced for a universal target audience including children and adults of any demographic. The licensed products are produced by third party industries who were authorised by Marvel or Disney to do so allowing the Disney to generate more profit on top of the box office revenue. In many cases it is the licensed products that generate an excess amount of profit for the institutions that own the rights to the a franchise.

Not many brand partnerships were made for Black Panther with only one significant partnership with Lexus, a vehicle brand who's parent company is Toyota, another major vehicle brand. Lexus paired up with Black Panther to produce a Superbowl commercial which aired during the SuperBowl. This was a tactical marketing move made by Marvel and Disney as the annual Superbowl viewership on television is estimated to be over 100 million people, guaranteeing that an extremely large number of viewers will watch the commercial and familiarise themselves with Lexus and Black Panther. This was of course highly expensive to accommodate as many huge brands have similar ideas and compete with each other for a successful viewing on the air. It turned out to be a success as Black Panther is still generating a profit after a week of its release.

For Disney, Black Panther is a profitable investment and can participate in generating even more of a profit by utilizing assets that the conglomerate has at its disposal. They can perhaps heavily incorporate Black Panther in their theme parks or sell much more desirable licensed products themed and influenced by Black Panther. Distribution studios like Marvel Studios do most of the production and distribution for the films linked to their MCU with Disney overlooking them and the other distribution studios that Disney own. Perhaps Disney could even host events in relation to Black Panther as part of its marketing campaign. It should however be noted that Black Panther is part of a franchise that has been building itself up for a decade for a film that is being released in the summer of 2018; Avengers: Infinity War where characters from other films including Black Panther will feature, therefore Disney are not going to focus on Black Panther for a long period of time since they are preparing for the release of their next upcoming film.