Business

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

The stock market’s current run could fizzle out if October retail sales data comes in hot next week, CNBC’s Jim Cramer warned on Friday.
“If we see weak retail sales and learn that things are getting very promotional in the key apparel sector, well then the market can stay strong,” he said.

The stock market’s current run could fizzle out if October retail sales data comes in hot next week, CNBC’s Jim Cramer warned on Friday.
“If we see weak retail sales and learn that things are getting very promotional in the key apparel sector, well then the market can stay strong,” he said, adding: “The worse retail gets, the less damage the Fed needs to do before they declare victory.”

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Stocks rose on Friday following lighter-than-expected October consumer price index data released the day prior that raised investors’ hopes the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of interest rate hikes. The benchmark S&P 500 ended its best week since June.
Earnings reports from the country’s biggest retailers take center stage next week, as do retail sales data for October.
“While I want retail stocks to do well, oddly I have to root for a weak number [from the October report] with little inflation in order to make that happen,” Cramer said.
He also previewed next week’s slate of earnings. All earnings and revenue estimates are courtesy of FactSet.
Tuesday: Walmart, Home Depot

Walmart

Q3 2023 earnings release at 7 a.m. ET; conference call at 8 a.m. ET
Projected EPS: $1.32
Projected revenue: $147.67 billion

Cramer said the economy is soft enough that shoppers are starting to trade down, which is good news for Walmart.
Home Depot

Q3 2022 earnings release at 6 a.m. ET; conference call at 9 a.m. ET
Projected EPS: $4.12
Projected revenue: $37.94 billion

Wednesday: Lowe’s, TJX, Target, Nvidia
Lowe’s

Q3 2022 earnings release at 6 a.m. ET; conference call at 9 a.m. ET
Projected EPS: $3.09
Projected revenue: $23.14 billion

Cramer said that Lowe’s and Home Depot are likely winning due to home renovations, but he doesn’t expect either company’s quarters to knock it out of the park.
TJX

Q3 2023 earnings release at 9:30 a.m. ET; conference call at 11 a.m. ET
Projected EPS: 80 cents
Projected revenue; $12.30 billion

TJX stock is the “best of the best for this particular moment,” he said.
Target

Q3 2022 earnings release at 6:30 a.m. ET; conference call at 8 a.m. ET
Projected EPS: $2.16
Projected revenue: $26.41 billion

He said he’s a believer in Target.
Nvidia

Q3 2023 earnings release at 3:20 p.m. ET; conference call at 5 p.m. ET
Projected EPS: 71 cents
Projected revenue: $5.8 billion

Cramer said he’s worried that semiconductor players are experiencing a short-covering rally rather than a sustainable one.
Thursday: Kohl’s, Gap, Palo Alto Networks
Kohl’s

Q3 2022 earnings release at 7 a.m. ET; conference call at 9 a.m. ET
Preliminary EPS: 82 cents
Preliminary revenue: $4.05 billion

Gap

Q3 2022 earnings release at 4:15 p.m. ET; conference call at 5 p.m. ET
Projected EPS: $0
Projected revenue: $3.81 billion

Cramer said that he’s uninterested in both Kohl’s and Gap’s stocks. 
Palo Alto Networks

Q1 2023 earnings release at 4:05 p.m. ET; conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET
Projected EPS: 69 cents
Projected revenue: $1.55 billion

He said he recommends buying the stock if it dips before the earnings release.
Friday: Foot Locker

Q3 2022 earnings release at 6:45 a.m. ET; conference call at 9 a.m. ET
Projected EPS: $1.14
Projected revenue: $2.10 billion

Cramer said he’s betting CEO Mary Dillon has a plan to improve Foot Locker’s performance.
Disclaimer: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of TJX and Nvidia.

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Disney plans to freeze hiring and cut some jobs, according to an internal memo.
The move comes after Disney reported disappointing quarterly results, sending the company’s stock down to a new 52-week low.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek sent a memo to division leaders Friday afternoon.

In this photo illustration a close-up of a hand holding a TV remote control seen displayed in front of the Disney+ logo.
Thiago Prudencio | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Disney plans to institute a targeted hiring freeze as well as some job cuts, according to an internal memo sent to executives.
“We are limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze,” CEO Bob Chapek said in a memo to division leads sent Friday and obtained by CNBC. “Hiring for the small subset of the most critical, business-driving positions will continue, but all other roles are on hold. Your segment leaders and HR teams have more specific details on how this will apply to your teams.”

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He added: “As we work through this evaluation process, we will look at every avenue of operations and labor to find savings, and we do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review.” Disney has approximately 190,000 employees.
Chapek also told executives business travel should be limited to essential trips only. Meetings should be conducted virtually as much as possible, he wrote in the memo.
Disney is also establishing “a cost structure taskforce” to be made up of Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy, General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez and Chapek.
“I am fully aware this will be a difficult process for many of you and your teams,” Chapek wrote. “We are going to have to make tough and uncomfortable decisions. But that is just what leadership requires, and I thank you in advance for stepping up during this important time.”
The moves come after Disney reported disappointing quarterly results. Shares of the company fell sharply Wednesday, hitting a new 52-week low, before rebounding later in the week.

McCarthy said during Disney’s earnings call Tuesday that the company was looking for ways to trim costs.
“We are actively evaluating our cost base currently, and we’re looking for meaningful efficiencies,” she said. “Some of those are going to provide some near-term savings, and others are going to drive longer-term structural benefits.”
Disney’s streaming services lost $1.47 billion last quarter, more than double the unit’s loss from a year prior. McCarthy said losses will improve in 2023, and Chapek has promised streaming will become profitable by the end of 2024.
Other large media and entertainment companies, including Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, have cut jobs this year as valuations have slumped. Disney hasn’t announced any plans to eliminate jobs.
The full memo can be read here:

Disney Leaders-
As we begin fiscal 2023, I want to communicate with you directly about the cost management efforts Christine McCarthy and I referenced on this week’s earnings call. These efforts will help us to both achieve the important goal of reaching profitability for Disney+ in fiscal 2024 and make us a more efficient and nimble company overall. This work is occurring against a backdrop of economic uncertainty that all companies and our industry are contending with.
While certain macroeconomic factors are out of our control, meeting these goals requires all of us to continue doing our part to manage the things we can control—most notably, our costs. You all will have critical roles to play in this effort, and as senior leaders, I know you will get it done.
To be clear, I am confident in our ability to reach the targets we have set, and in this management team to get us there.
To help guide us on this journey, I have established a cost structure taskforce of executive officers: our CFO, Christine McCarthy and General Counsel, Horacio Gutierrez. Along with me, this team will make the critical big picture decisions necessary to achieve our objectives.
We are not starting this work from scratch and have already set several next steps—which I wanted you to hear about directly from me.
First, we have undertaken a rigorous review of the company’s content and marketing spending working with our content leaders and their teams. While we will not sacrifice quality or the strength of our unrivaled synergy machine, we must ensure our investments are both efficient and come with tangible benefits to both audiences and the company.
Second, we are limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze. Hiring for the small subset of the most critical, business-driving positions will continue, but all other roles are on hold. Your segment leaders and HR teams have more specific details on how this will apply to your teams.
Third, we are reviewing our SG&A costs and have determined that there is room for improved efficiency—as well as an opportunity to transform the organization to be more nimble. The taskforce will drive this work in partnership with segment teams to achieve both savings and organizational enhancements. As we work through this evaluation process, we will look at every avenue of operations and labor to find savings, and we do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review. In the immediate term, business travel should now be limited to essential trips only. In-person work sessions or offsites requiring travel will need advance approval and review from a member of your executive team (i.e., direct report of the segment chairman or corporate executive officer). As much as possible, these meetings should be conducted virtually. Attendance at conferences and other external events will also be restricted and require approvals from a member of your executive team.
Our transformation is designed to ensure we thrive not just today, but well into the future—and you will hear more from our taskforce in the weeks and months ahead.
I am fully aware this will be a difficult process for many of you and your teams. We are going to have to make tough and uncomfortable decisions. But that is just what leadership requires, and I thank you in advance for stepping up during this important time. Our company has weathered many challenges during our 100-year history, and I have no doubt we will achieve our goals and create a more nimble company better suited to the environment of tomorrow.
Thank you again for your leadership.
-Bob

WATCH: Disney had to get into streaming, but Meta just did too much hiring

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The decision to extend emergency comes as public health officials are expecting another Covid surge this winter as people gather more indoors where the virus spreads easier.
The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has had a vast impact on the U.S. health-care system.
The declaration has dramatically expanded public health insurance through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra answers questions during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss reopening schools during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., September 30, 2021.
Greg Nash | Pool | Reuters

The U.S. is extending the Covid public health emergency through the spring of 2023, a Biden administration official said on Friday.
The decision to extend emergency comes as public health officials are expecting another Covid surge this winter as people gather more indoors where the virus spreads easier. The future also remains uncertain as more immune evasive omicron subvariants become dominant in the U.S.

The Health and Human Services Department previously extended the public health emergency until January. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has promised to give health-care providers 60 days notice before lifting the emergency declaration so they can prepare for a return to normal operations.
HHS did not send that notice out on Friday, the deadline, which means the emergency has been extended through the spring, the administration official said. How the U.S. fares against Covid this fall and winter will help determine whether the emergency needs to be renewed again moving forward, Becerra told reporters in October.
The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has had a vast impact on the U.S. health-care system. The declaration has dramatically expanded public health insurance through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Enrollment in these programs increased 26% during the pandemic to a record of more than 89 million people as of June.
HHS has estimated that as many as 15 million people could lose Medicaid or CHIP once the programs return to normal operations.
The emergency declaration has also given hospitals and other health-care providers more flexibility in how they operate.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global health coverage:

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Polestar’s third-quarter operating loss was significantly narrower than a year ago, and its revenue more than doubled.
The automaker still expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles in 2022, a key milestone.
But supply-chain disruptions are still an issue, and exchange-rate pressures will likely continue into 2023.

Polestar 3
Courtesy: Polestar

Swedish electric-vehicle maker Polestar said Friday that its third-quarter operating loss narrowed from a year ago as revenue more than doubled, and it confirmed that it still expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles in 2022.
But the company warned that higher costs and supply-chain issues will continue to squeeze its margins into 2023.

Here are the key numbers from Polestar’s third-quarter earnings report, its first as a public company following its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company in June.

Revenue: $435.4 million, versus $212.9 million in the third quarter of 2021
Operating loss: $196.4 million, down from $292.9 million a year ago

Despite the operating loss, Polestar was able to report a net profit of $299.4 million, or 14 cents per share, thanks to an accounting credit related to the revaluation of future share payouts. (Because Polestar’s share price has fallen since it went public, it will have to pay out less than it had previously expected, hence the credit.)
Shares rose sharply after the report and ended Friday’s session up over 20%.
“I would like to reiterate: Polestar is a real car company,” CEO Thomas Ingenlath said during the earnings call. “We are putting cars on the road today and we are delivering on our ambitious growth plan.”
CFO Johan Malmqvist said that Polestar’s lower operating loss was helped by its efforts to reduce costs, specifically short-term reductions in advertising and marketing spending. On the other hand, foreign exchange headwinds exacerbated the loss, and those are expected to continue into next year.

“As our cars are produced in China, the majority of our costs are in renminbi, which has strengthened against European currencies, leading to a higher cost of sale,” Malmqvist said during the earnings call.
Malmqvist said that Polestar still expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles in 2022, generating about $2.4 billion in revenue for the full year, both in line with its prior guidance. Those numbers imply deliveries of about 19,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter, producing about $924 million in revenue – and those vehicles are already built and in transit to customers now, he said.
Polestar ended the third quarter with about $988 million in cash, and it has since secured a $1.6 billion credit line from its two main owners, Volvo Cars and Chinese automaker Geely. That’s enough to fund the company through 2023, Malmqvist said.

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The fitness industry appears headed for a strong holiday season, but not everyone will see a boost.
Inflationary pressures and a post-lockdown reset are poised to benefit traditional gyms and trade-down options — threatening connected at-home fitness equipment like Peloton and Mirror.
Apparel retailers are hoping the resiliency in fitness will continue to spill over.

Brody Longo works out on his Peloton exercise bike on April 16, 2021 in Brick, New Jersey.
Michael Loccisano | Getty Images

The fitness industry appears headed for a strong holiday season, but not everyone will see a boost.
The category has been on a rollercoaster for more than two years, with the Covid pandemic shifting workout routines and minting new sector winners. Now inflationary pressures and a post-lockdown reset look poised to benefit traditional gyms and trade-down options — threatening connected at-home fitness equipment like the products made by Peloton and Lululemon-owned Mirror.

Inflation remains a top concern for consumers, though October data showed slight easing. Holiday spending projections show that rising costs may result in more muted gift-giving this year.
Demand appears to be stronger for experiences rather than things. The fitness category has a history of surviving pricing pressures, and it usually enjoys a bump from New Year’s resolutions.
“In ’08 and ’09 fitness industry revenues and membership actually ticked up versus much of retail,” Jefferies analyst Corey Tarlowe told CNBC, referring to the financial crisis and recession of that era.
Tarlowe, who covers Planet Fitness and Lululemon, said fitness spending remains steady, even among lower-income, inflation-squeezed consumers. But he sees gyms winning out over more expensive, at-home equipment. People are trading down and shifting more toward value, he said, “and that bodes well for Planet Fitness.”

Return to gyms

Planet Fitness posted record membership and expanded its full-year guidance when it reported third-quarter earnings Nov. 8. The company said it had 16.6 million members at the end of the quarter, an all-time high – even compared to the pre-pandemic era – and said it added 29 new locations during the period.

Planet Fitness CEO Chris Rondeau said members are exercising more, too: six times a month versus five times a month when Planet Fitness went public in 2015. The company also reported a decline in its cancellation rate.
Rondeau said engagement for all age groups is near or above pre-pandemic levels. The company, known for its affordable memberships compared to more luxurious gyms like Life Time and Equinox, boasted strong customer acquisitions through its discounted offerings.

Chris Rondeau, CEO of Planet Fitness.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Luxury gyms are seeing positive trends, too. Life Time on Nov. 9 reported a 9% increase in members from 2021, and 4,000 additional members compared with the prior quarter.
The cadence of additions is slower than from 2020 to 2021, but the luxury fitness brand continues to lure its higher-income customer base with in-person experiences such as the increasing popular sport pickleball.

Is fitness on the wish list?

Apparel retailers hope to continue benefiting from the resiliency in fitness.
Lululemon in September showed strong demand for athleticwear from its higher-income consumer base. The company said it was “not seeing any meaningful variation” in consumer behavior despite the macroeconomic environment and actually raised its 2022 guidance range by about $200 million to between $7.87 billion and $7.94 billion.
The company will report its third-quarter results in December.
Other retailers are hoping home fitness will continue to be on wish lists in the coming months. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Lowe’s — which recently expanded its assortment of exercise equipment and accessories — have both touted the stability of the sector, even despite inflation.
But, as Jefferies’ Tarlowe notes, there’s more risk with capital-intensive, lower-margin equipment versus higher-margin products like athleticwear. Nevertheless, retailers like Lowe’s are confident that demand will hold.
“The demand for home fitness equipment has maintained since the pandemic,” Lowe’s executive vice president of merchandising, Bill Boltz, said in a statement to CNBC. “Especially during the holiday gifting season, we are offering an increased selection of fitness accessories in stores.”

Can Peloton peddle bikes?

Luxury at-home products like Peloton, however, have struggled in recent months as consumers get out of the house and back to offices and gyms. The stationary bike maker reported first-quarter results earlier this month that came in well below Wall Street’s expectations, logging a quarterly loss in subscribers and, according to calculations from UBS, a parallel drop in engagement — 16% year over year.
Even as the company looks to drive new customers — selling its Bikes on Amazon and at Dick’s Sporting Goods, launching a rental program and putting bikes in hotels across the country — analysts don’t think the value proposition is attracting more subscribers.
“It took a global pandemic to get from 1 million subscriber to 2 million. Can you actually grow that base?” Arpiné Kocharyan, a leisure, gaming and lodging analyst with UBS, said in an interview with CNBC. “We have seen churn rates double year over year.”
Peloton forecast second-quarter revenue of between $700 million and $725 million, around $150 million below the $874 million that Wall Street had been hoping for, according to Refinitiv consensus estimates at the time of the report.
Lululemon, which acquired at-home fitness company Mirror in 2020 for $500 million, could be facing similar at-home headwinds. Executives did not disclose Mirror sales in the latest quarterly update, but the acquisition remained an expense on the company’s financial statements.
“I just don’t think Mirror was strategically the best option for Lululemon,” Jefferies’ Tarlowe said. “It probably still is dilutive to earnings. They are investing in the business to help enhance the Mirror segment, but I question the value that will actually add overall to the business.”
Mirror subscriptions have been wrapped in Lululemon’s new $39-a-month membership program, which also includes access to exclusive Lululemon products and some in-person workouts. The subscription is part of the company’s five-year plan to double revenue to $12.5 billion by 2025, a plan that has drawn skepticism from some analysts.
“Connected fitness as a phenomenon is here to stay,” UBS’ Kocharyan said. “But are you going to see significant growth rates from where they are today, given that they saw this abnormally high growth rate in the middle of the pandemic? I would say there are more questions about them keeping those subscriptions and engagement high.”

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A significant reorganization is underway at SpaceX’s Texas launch facility.
SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell and vice president Mark Juncosa are now overseeing the facility and operations of company’s Starbase location.
The appointments demonstrate the sense of urgency within the company to get Starship flying. Both Shotwell and Juncosa have been at SpaceX since its early days under Elon Musk.

An aerial view of a Starship prototype stacked on a Super Heavy booster at the company’s Starbase facility outside of Brownsville, Texas.

While Elon Musk earns daily headlines over changes at Twitter, a significant reorganization is underway at his space company’s Texas launch facility.
SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell and vice president Mark Juncosa – two of the most influential executives at the company aside from Musk himself – are now overseeing the facility and operations of the company’s Starbase location, people familiar with the situation told CNBC.

Senior director of Starship operations Shyamal Patel is leaving the site to move to the company’s Cape Canaveral facilities, after spending more than two years working on the next-generation rocket in Texas, those people said. Patel was previously based at the Cape, before a promotion and move to Starbase.
The space venture also quietly brought on Omead Afshar, a Texas-based Tesla operations lead, as a vice president of Starship production.
The Information previously reported the new responsibilities for Shotwell and Juncosa, while Bloomberg first reported the addition of Afshar. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on the reorganization.
SpaceX has steadily built up its facility known as Starbase, outside the city of Brownsville in Texas, which serves as the main hub for development, testing and launches of its nearly 400-foot-tall Starship rocket. The rocket is designed to carry cargo and people beyond Earth and is critical to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon, with SpaceX having won a nearly $3 billion contract from the agency in 2021.
The appointments demonstrate the sense of urgency within the company to get Starship flying. Both Shotwell and Juncosa have been at SpaceX since its early days under Musk.

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Juncosa visited Starbase over the summer for what was supposed to be a two-week stint, one of the people familiar told CNBC, to bring a new perspective and update Musk and Shotwell on the progress of development at the site.
That person called Juncosa’s findings alarming, with an orbital launch attempt further away than company leadership expected. SpaceX had hoped to conduct the first orbital Starship launch as early as summer 2021, but delays in progress and regulatory approval have pushed back that timeline.
NASA last month said SpaceX most recently told the agency that Starship’s first orbital launch could take place as soon as early December.

An aerial view of the company’s Starbase facility outside of Brownsville, Texas.

The Federal Aviation Administration completed a long-awaited environmental assessment of the Starbase facility in June, key to the company receiving a license from the federal regulator for Starship launches. But, as a result of that FAA decision, SpaceX was required to take more than 75 environmental mitigation steps – and it remains unknown if those actions are complete. The FAA did not respond to a CNBC request on Friday for an update on the process.
The Starship rocket and its Super Heavy booster are powered by SpaceX’s Raptor series of engines, and the whole system is designed to be reusable – unlike the partially reusable elements of the company’s Falcon series of rockets.
A year ago, Musk described a “crisis” with Raptor engine production, which caused the removal of a vice president from the program, who left the company. Since then, SpaceX has ramped Raptor production to a rate of seven engines per week – crucial, as each Super Heavy booster requires 33 engines, and each Starship rocket has six.
While Musk has long pushed for employees at its Hawthorne, California, headquarters to move to Starbase to help with the Starship effort, the company is further incentivizing relocation.
Last week, SpaceX rolled out an offer to salaried employees for pay bumps between 10% to 25% if they move to south Texas, people familiar with the situation told CNBC. The company also increased its hourly pay rates for non-salaried Starbase employees, CNBC learned, as well as added performance-based incentives for 2023.
Musk’s company is launching Falcon rockets to orbit at a blistering pace this year, as well as flying regular cargo and crew missions for NASA and others. But Starship is the lynchpin to further growth of the $127 billion company: SpaceX needs the rocket to effectively deploy the second-generation of its Starlink satellites, required to step beyond what Musk has described as the “financially weak” first generation.
SpaceX is building a backlog of private astronaut missions on the rocket.
The company last performed a Starship flight test in May 2021, with the SN15 prototype, but that was only to about 30,000 feet altitude – much less rigorous than an orbital launch will entail. In recent months, SpaceX has built momentum through successively more robust “static fire” engine tests of its Super Heavy booster prototype number seven and its Starship prototype SN24.

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The raises stem from a 2020 cost-cutting agreement with the pilots’ union during the pandemic.
United and the union agreed to voluntary separation programs for pilots.

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 lands at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California.
Louis Nastro | Reuters

United Airlines is giving pilots 5% raises — part of a pandemic cost-reduction agreement — months ahead of schedule, days after pilots overwhelmingly rejected a new contract agreement.
Negotiations for new labor deals have been difficult at United and other carriers.

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In 2020, the Chicago-based carrier and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents United’s more than 13,000 pilots, agreed to offer aviators a round of buyouts as the company scrambled to reduce costs during the industry’s worst-ever crisis.
In exchange, the company said it would raise its pilots’ hourly pay by 5% once the airline returned to a pretax margin at or above 5% for 12 months. They also agreed to job and pay protections.
United cited the carrier’s return to profitability and upbeat outlook for handing the raises out this year. The airline reported a pretax margin of 9% in the last quarter. While United has still lost money in the first nine months of the year, it expects a profitable end to 2022.
The company could have waited until May 2023 to pay the raises, Bryan Quigley, senior vice president of flight operations at United wrote to pilots on Thursday. The raises will take effect during the December bid month.
“This is a show of good faith and a down payment on a market-based, industry leading labor agreement,” Quigley wrote. “It’s also recognition of the role that you played in helping United survive the pandemic and recover so much stronger.”

United pilots overwhelmingly voted down a recent proposed agreement that would have increased pay by about 15% over 18 months.
“Accelerating our raise does not change the fact we still need a contract that fully recognizes the contributions we make every day to the success of our airline,” United’s pilot union said in a note to members on Thursday.
The union said that United pilots plan to picket outside United’s flight training center in Denver next Tuesday. Delta, Southwest, American and FedEx pilots have also picketed to demand better pay and schedules in recent months.

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Ryan Coogler’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” is over 80% “fresh” on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics said the film has an “overly busy” plot, but is a poignant tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa.
The Marvel Studios film opens Friday and is expected to have a huge opening weekend.

Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright star as Okoye and Shuri in Marvel Studio’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

It’s impossible to replace the irreplaceable, but that was Ryan Coogler’s task as the director and co-writer of Disney’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
The sequel to 2018’s blockbuster hit “Black Panther” takes place after the real-world death of actor Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed the titular hero in several Marvel films before dying from cancer in 2020. He was 43.

“Wakanda Forever” had the unenviable charge of not only being a memorial to the late Boseman, but also move the multibillion-dollar MCU franchise forward into its next chapter. It is expected to post a huge opening weekend.
Coogler, alongside Marvel Studio’s executives, decided not to recast the character of T’Challa. Instead, the film opens with the off-screen death of the character. The story that follows centers on how the secondary characters in the world of Wakanda deal with that loss as well as the encroachment of the rest of the world, which has become aware of the country’s rare and powerful resource — vibranium.
Several critics called the plot overstuffed, as Coogler seeks to pay tribute to Boseman and establish the necessary markers for future MCU projects. The film introduces Tenoch Huerta as Namor, the ruler of Talokan, a fictional kingdom based on Atlantis, as well as Riri Williams, known in the comics as Ironheart, who will star in her own Disney+ series.
Despite its length and heftiness, “Wakanda Forever” has generated an over 80% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes from about 200 reviews.
Here’s what some critics thought of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ahead of its Friday debut:

Kristy Puchko, Mashable

Puchko says the film, while action-packed, is at its core about how people handle loss differently. This is particularly evident in how T’Challa’s mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) quarrel over the future of Wakanda.
“Through their mother-daughter battles — born of love and broken hearts — Coogler poses questions that hit hard,” Puchko wrote. “What to we owe to those we’ve lost? Is their legacy our responsibility? Or are we responsible for our own legacies? Might their memory bolster us or blind us to what our futures could be without them?”
Wright, who spent much of the first “Black Panther” as comic relief, now takes on a more serious lead role, one that many critics praised.
“[Wright] handles this shift well, bringing a maturity to the pesky little sister without entirely losing her bear-poking edge,” Puchko said.
Read the full review from Mashable.

Still from Marvel Studio’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

“Boseman’s T’Challa is a spirit that lovingly haunts the film,” Macdonald writes.
“It’s part of the great strength of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ that it doesn’t shy away from that sadness; this is, after all, a superhero movie, and Coogler might have been forgiven for wanting to quickly cut to the chase, so to speak,” she wrote.
Instead, the filmmaker allows the characters and the audience to absorb the loss before flashing forward.
“There’s so much that ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ does right that it’s frustrating to blame it for the one flaw it can’t help,” she wrote. “But you watch it wondering about the movie that never got made, the story that never got finished, the life cut short too soon.”
Read the full review from Seattle Times.

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

Much like the first “Black Panther,” Coogler is being praised for filling the “Wakanda Forever” production with talented female actors and creators. Hannah Beachler and Ruth Carter, who won Oscars for production design and costuming for their work on the first film, are back and earning more raves.
“Their shared vision of Afro-futurism feels lush and joyful and beautifully specific set against the usual white noise of Marvel fanfare, even (or almost especially) in darker moments, like the pristine rituals of a funeral scene,” Greenblatt writes. “‘Wakanda’ is still clearly a Marvel property, with all the for-the-fans story beats and secondary characters its ever-expanding universe requires, but it also feels apart from any one that’s come before.”
Greenblatt also touches on how, without King T’Challa, Wakanda has become a matriarchy.
“Without their king, Wakanda has become a queendom from the top down, overseen by Bassett’s regal, ageless Ramonda, the gorgeously daunting Gurira, and Wright, who rises to fill her dramatically expanded role with feline grace and vulnerability,” she wrote.
She notes that while this sequel is likely nothing like what Coogler and Marvel had intended to create prior to Boseman’s untimely death, “the movie they’ve made feels like something unusually elegant and profound at the multiplex; a little bit of forever carved out for the star who left too soon.”
Read the full review from Entertainment Weekly.

Winston Duke stars as M’Baku in Marvel Studio’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Kambole Campbell, Empire

Critics also praised the performance of Huerta as Namor, also known as the Sub-Mariner in comics, and Coogler’s interpretation of the character. Campbell calls Namor “a unique antagonist.”
“He’s a highlight, an imaginative adaptation of the veteran comics character, one who here speaks truth with convincing venom. Coogler ties him to Mesoamerican history and Spanish colonialism, and there’s a sense — like Wakanda — of a tangible, real-world history.”
Campbell also noted that “Wakanda Forever” “can feel overly busy,” since Coogler had a lot of elements to weave into the film.
“It all sprawls into a messy last act that can feel at odds with the rest of the film,” he wrote. “But ‘Wakanda Forever’ ultimately lands on a poignant note. In bookends, it deals head-on with the passing of both T’Challa and Boseman, moments that pull the film into a moving, surprisingly personal whole. Even in his absence, Boseman holds ‘Black Panther’ together.”
Read the full review from Empire.

A still from the movie “Black Panther.”
Source: Marvel

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