The February weekend that Black Panther opened and rewrote box office history, writer-director Ryan Coogler and the man who hired him, Marvel executive Nate Moore, ping-ponged text messages to each other, sharing images of moviegoers dressed in dashikis, pounding drums, dancing in the lobbies, celebrating a deeply felt connection to a movie many had been waiting their whole lives to see.
At the same time in Los Angeles, actors Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, rivals in the film, celebrated by sitting courtside at the Staples Center for the NBA All-Star game, enjoying the moment, and feeling completely floored that players kept approaching them, wanting to talk about Black Panther.