‍Black Panther dug its claws into yet another milestone as it entered the billion-dollar movie elite club after its fourth week in worldwide cinemas, thanks to a solid debut in China this weekend.

Hauling in 22.7 million US dollars on its opening day, Ryan Coogler’s superhero title recorded the best opening-day gross in the world’s second-largest movie market since 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, which earned 30 million US dollars on its opening day in Chinese theaters, according to Fortune magazine.

But the film’s “incredibly meaningful success” is perhaps not measured in box office records, but what it’s done for black culture. As Vox reported, the movie “acknowledges and celebrates everything from traditional African society to African-American political debates, from the power and beauty of black women to the preservation of identity, all within the lush confines of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.” 

But while it is widely seen as a celebration of the African style and culture, it also deeply resonates with another native style – one from Asia, especially the Philippines.

A team of artists, headed by visual development head Ryan Meinerding, were tasked to conceptualize the looks of the characters in the movie.

Filipino-American Anthony Francisco, a senior visual designer for Marvel for six years now, was responsible for visually designing the costumes of the “Dora Milaje” – the all-female warriors chosen by the Black Panther to be his personal guards. Although mostly drawing from African influences, Francisco said he also visualized from the textures and design details he experienced growing up in the Philippines during the creative process. 

“My inspiration comes from a lot of what I experience and like in life. The Dora Milaje will have a tribal feel to them so it was an easy choice to try to incorporate some Filipino tribal elements like the Ifugao and Igorots (both ethnic group in the Philippines). I also looked at a lot of different tribes and tribal design from Africa as well as Native American designs. The Massai, Ndebele and Dinka people were just some of the inspirations I drew from,” Francisco told CGTN Digital.

Another Fil-Am concept illustrator, Rodney Fuentebella, designed the looks of characters Killmonger, Ulysses Klaue and King T’Chaka.

As Team Wakanda continues to smash world records, the team behind the movie also continues to be amazed with its success that “surpassed expectations”.

Black Panther – unprecedented for its whopping 200-million-dollar budget and featuring a virtually all-black cast – was seen as a bold move on the part of Disney and Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige.

“I knew it was going to be an important film but I was not sure if the audience was ready for this kind of film. Then it surpassed expectation. I am always grateful for being part of something so powerful and that has a clear message.”

With the success of the movie, all eyes suddenly fell on Francisco and his artworks.

Recalling his childhood in the Philippines, Francisco said he has always been fascinated with supernatural beings that he saw from the movies they watched together as a family. Aside from Philippine mythical creatures such as “aswang” and “tikbalang”, Francisco also said that he has been drawing super heroes for as long as he can remember. But it was during high school that he became fascinated with Marvel and other comic stories.

“Right before high school one of my best friends introduced me to the Marvel Universe and that was the beginning of my addiction in collecting comic books. In high school I would draw in class while the teacher was talking, and during my summer vacations I would spend hours at the comic book store looking through all the comic books,” he recalled.

Before Black Panther, Francisco was also the man behind the design of Baby Groot for Guardians of the Galaxy, and Loki for the third Thor movie.

Given a chance, Francisco said he would love to do a project in the Philippines someday. “Actually, before I got hired at Marvel I was planning to shoot a short film in the Philippines… It's a simple story inspired by something I heard of when I was a kid… Maybe I can just produce a comic book.”

Asked about his dream project, the Los Angeles-based artist said: “My dream would be to work on some of my own stories and projects. I have a number of them in different stages of development but just don’t have the time to flesh them out at the moment because I have this dream job at Marvel Studios.”

To see more of Anthony Francisco’s artwork’s, check out his Facebook and Instagram (@anthony_francisco_art) accounts.

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