Quote Originally Posted by Xyril View Post
Although honestly, at this point they're probably thinking "I don't care what your focus groups and critics say--we're Marvel, it'll make money."
This is exactly what they were thinking. Think about this logically - if they had low expectations for Black Panther, the budget would have reflected that as a riskier investment. Black Panther's budget meanwhile was on par with far more proven properties like Iron Man 2 and Guardians 2, and considerably higher than their other first-time solo outings like Captain America First Avenger, Doctor Strange and Ant-Man. It also doesn't include the massive marketing push they made for the movie, which included unique black-targeted expenses like getting Kendrick Lamar to make an album for the movie or specific sports-based advertising buys. These are not the attitudes of a low-expectations project. So I stand by my statement - his assertion is completely ridiculous, as is the defense of it.