Disney is giving $1 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to celebrate the financial success of Black Panther, which out-performed the company’s forecast in its second weekend in theaters.
To celebrate the film’s focus on innovation and technology, the donation will support the organization’s STEM programs around the country and establish STEM Centers of Innovation in 12 cities. Oakland, Cali., which the film uses as a juxtaposition to the Utopian Wakanda, is one of the cities that will see a Center of Innovation. The others are Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Harlem, Hartford, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Watts, Cali.
The latest film from Marvel Studios tells the story of King T’Challa, the Black Panther, as he fights to lead the fictional African country of Wakanda. The country sits on a wealth of vibranium, a fictional metal that the country has used to develop technologies unknown to the outside world. King T’Challa’s scientist sister, Shuri, and her innovations feature prominently in the story, and at the end of the film she begins to reach out to youth outside Wakanda to encourage their interest in science and technology.
The movie has attracted a diverse audience, which is majority non-white and includes more women than most superhero movies. So far it has grossed $700 million worldwide. Last weekend, it became one of only four movies in history to earn more than $100 million in the U.S. in its second weekend.