Black Panther

Chadwick Boseman: Black Panther director Ryan Coogler pays emotional tribute

"Chad was an anomaly. He was calm. Assured. Constantly studying," wrote the director on Sunday morning.

"The ancestors spoke through him," he added. "What an incredible mark he's left for us."

Boseman died on Thursday at home in Los Angeles with his wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, and family by his side.

He had been diagnosed with bowel cancer four years ago, undergoing treatment while filming hit movies like Avengers: Endgame, 21 Bridges and Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods.

Black Panther's latest win bodes well for Oscars

The win for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture potentially sets up the movie for a major role at next month's Academy Awards.

The two leading Oscar nominees - Roma and The Favourite - were bypassed by the actors guild for a best ensemble field that also included BlacKkKlansman, Crazy Rich Asians, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born. Although Black Panther wasn't nominated for any individual SAG Awards, it took home the final award at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Black Panther film: 'Game-changing' movie takes $1bn

It is the fifth movie based in Disney's Marvel Universe to hit the milestone.

The film stars Chadwick Boseman as the crime-fighting ruler of Wakanda, a fictional African nation with the most advanced technology on earth.

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B Jordan and Daniel Kaluuya play key roles, with The Hobbit star Martin Freeman as CIA agent Everett Ross.

The film has been widely praised as game-changing - including by Michelle Obama - for having a largely black cast and a black director, Ryan Coogler.

‘Black Panther’s’ strong weekend box office makes it biggest-ever February release

The film pulled in $201.8 million domestically for Walt Disney Co. DIS, -0.52%  over the course of its three-day Friday to Sunday opening weekend. That makes “Black Panther” the highest-ever February release, beating out 2016’s “Deadpool,” and places it in fifth all time after another Marvel title “The Avengers,” Universal Pictures’s CMCSA, -0.80%  “Jurassic World,” and Disney’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Alt-right attack on Black Panther thwarted

The group, entitled Down With Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys (DWDTFF), was planning to spam the film with negative reviews.

Facebook has now closed the group's page down and Rotten Tomatoes says it will ban the group's members and delete their comments.

"We at Rotten Tomatoes are proud to have become a platform for passionate fans to debate and discuss entertainment and we take that responsibility seriously," Rotten Tomatoes says in a statement.