Wesley Snipes Is 'Ecstatic' About 'Black Panther': 'Excited Is Definitely Not The Word'

A big fan of the upcoming Marvel superhero film, Black Panther, is none other than Wesley Snipes, who says he is "ecstatic" about the film.

Coming from Snipes, who was supposed to take on the Black Panther project years ago, it was obvious that he is proud of how the new-era cinema and its fans had evolved. Clearly, the Ryan Coogler-directed film is hotly anticipated, proven by the record-breaking number of tweets about it and the number of sold advance tickets.

This says so much about how the audience are welcoming films that are led by black actors. Snipes' remarks toward the excitement of people nowadays root back to the days when his Blade film premiered.

Snipes narrated how one time, after the studio conducted a focus group discussion and gotten the results, an exec was surprised that many had actually been allured by the charm of his character in Blade. It turned out that the film was welcomed in America and, impressively, in other countries as well.

"Excited is definitely not the word. Overcome, overjoyed, clutch the pearls, I am ecstatic about it," Snipes gushed in an interview with Slate for Black Panther.

Apart from this, the 55-year-old actor also believed that the highly anticipated film would open new windows for black actors, and he further underlined the impact Black Panther would have in Hollywood.

As mentioned, Snipes had been tapped to play the Marvel superhero years ago, and though Black Panther did not materialize then, he hinted that there were no hard feelings. Instead, as he puts it, the timing is perfect for the film to be released.

"I can't even imagine what this version of Black Panther would have been 20 years ago when we were talking about it. ... It's the right thing, at the right time, and the right occasion," Snipes explained.

'Blade' trilogy

Fans of Marvel superheroes could remember Snipes playing the titular role in Blade, a trilogy, that had been warmly received by the audience. The film revolved around Blade, a human and a blood-sucker at the same time and who is ironically also a vampire slayer.

The first of the Blade films premiered in 1998 and amassed a total of $131 million. The second one, released in 2002, was presumably more anticipated and garnered $155 million. The last one earned mixed reactions after off-cam dramas surfaced. The trilogy had gotten a huge fan base since then.

'Black Panther' hype

Meanwhile, Black Panther remained to be the hottest topic in microblogging site Twitter after garnering 5 million tweets, beating past record holders such as 2017's Beauty and the Beast and 2012's The Hunger Games. Preselling tickets of the film also soared even more, with ticketing company Fandango raising its projections to $165 million from the initial $150 million.