Is “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”really going to be a monster at the box office? Or is the sequel to the sublime “Black Panther” a hype machine for the ages?
We won’t know until this Friday morning when preview numbers come in from Thursday night. But in the meantime, there’s a solid first clue.
This past Friday night, ABC aired a special at 8pm about the movie. They should clips, had interviews with the stars, etc. If anyone was interested in “WF” this would have been a moment to offer a vote.
Alas, the special did very poorly, with just 2.4 million viewers. And this was at 8pm. Kids could watch it. But the special was trounced by CBS’s lineup. It even scored less than ABC’s own “20/20” which aired next on the network.
Last Friday at 8pm ABC aired a special about “Friends” star Matthew Perry. It did almost double the business than “WF” with 4.4 million viewers.
Maybe “Black Panther” fans are just waiting to get into a theater. But they had a free chance to get a preview, and largely shunned it. An omen? We’ll see…
