Black Directors Ava DuVernay And Ryan Coogler Make History As They Lead The Box Office
By: Kayla Pasacreta
DuVernay and Coogler, photo via ESPN
Who said Black History Month ends in February? Ryan Coogler, "Black Panther" director and Ava DuVernay, "A Wrinkle In Time" director, are making history after nabbing the #1 and #2 spot on the box office.
Cooler and DuVernay have remained supportive of each other along the way, as DuVernay cheered on Coogler for "Black Panther" and Coogler penned a letter expressing his pride for Duvernay's "A Wrinkle In Time" release,
“Ava is a pioneer. She makes the most distant dreams and ideas a reality. She made a show called “Queen Sugar” and mandated the use of female directors and key creatives a full two years before the great Frances McDormand shared with the world what an inclusion rider was. Ava is inclusion, equity and representation.
Ava is the past, present and future. She is all of these things, but sometimes I forget she is human. I was reminded of this a couple of years back, when I got the heartbreaking news that she had lost her father. I almost lost my father, and it nearly broke me in half. Ava, the warrior, weathered that loss while making “13th” to show everyone with a Netflix subscription that American slavery never ended — it had only morphed.”
On Saturday, "Black Panther" surpassed $1 billion worldwide after being in theaters for four weeks. and "A Wrinkle In Time" came in at number 2, grossing $33 million. Both films are blockbusters by Disney, the first time the company has given black directors films with $100 million budgets.
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