‘Black Panther’ To Start Filming In January 2017; Director Ryan Coogler Co-Writing

It’s a hot time to be Black Panther. Renowned writer and intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates delivered a record-breaking beginning to his new comic about the African superhero last week and next up is Chadwick Boseman’s highly-anticipated on-screen debut in Captain America: Civil War. Even better, fans won’t have to wait long at all to see the king of Wakanda get his own film as director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) – one of the brightest young directors in Hollywood – steps up to bring him to life.

During Civil War press interviews with Kevin Feige, Collider learned they expect a finished script “very soon” and Coogler is not only directing the Black Panther film, but co-writing it as well. He also stated principal photography begins in January 2017.

“We have a number of writers on it including Ryan Coogler, who is also directing, he’s working on the draft right now. Between now and the end of the summer there will be more casting announcements. We start filming at the very beginning of next year.”

Coogler also co-wrote his previous two feature films, so while it’s not entirely surprising this is the case, it’s just more good news. Creed was one of the best films of 2015, hands-down. Coogler not only averted the sophomore slump, but revitalized a 40 year-old franchise everyone, including Rocky himself Sylvester Stallone, had thought done-and-dusted.

It proved that Coogler can not only handle nuance, but populist franchise filmmaking at its finest. So it’s safe to say my butt is in the seat for whatever Coogler comes up with. The fact that it’s a Marvel blockbuster featuring their first black lead just makes it so much sweeter and more proof of why Feige and his team at Marvel Studios are essentially running Hollywood these days.

Captain America: Civil War continues the takeover on May 6.

SOURCE: Collider