The Money Letitia Wright Made for Wakanda Forever is Frankly Ridiculous
Guyanese-British actress Letitia Wright has become the lead for the long-awaited sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as Princess Shuri after Chadwick Boseman, who played T'Challa, the main character of the first movie, tragically died of colon cancer and the script had to be completely reworked.
The actress said that "stepping into Wakanda without our King" was "one of the most difficult things we could've done."
One would naturally assume that, being the lead actor, you are to make millions of dollars especially if the franchise – at least its first installment – has broken a number of box office records and earned more than $1 billion worldwide.
We know that Chadwick Boseman was paid $2 million for his role of King T'Chala – that's according to The Hollywood Reporter. And it was expected that he would have gotten a major pay rise for the sequel. Normally if a franchise is a success the actors' salaries simply skyrocket. Just look at these figures: Robert Downey Jr. made $500,000 for 2008's Iron Man. After Iron Man became a success, Downey Jr. was paid $50 million for 2012's Avengers. We can all do math – this is a hundred times more.
But what about Letitia Wright's money?
While her salary for the first Black Panther movie hasn't been made public, it's been reported by Showbiz Galore that in 2022 she made $700,000 for the second Black Panther film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Now think about Robert Downey Jr. and his $50 million…
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Letitia Wright's net worth is around $4 million. She starred in Ready Player One, Sing 2 and Death on the Nile. She also features in shows such as Doctor Who, Humans and Black Mirror. For the latter she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.
Black Panther's sequel premiered on November 11 and earned $84 million domestically on premiere weekend. However, the international numbers are not that high, being lower than was initially projected.
So, the question is, will the movie be anywhere near Black Panther, which earned $1.3 billion internationally and made it into the list of top 10 highest grossing films of all time. It also became the highest-grossing film made by a Black director.