Gulfport native Brittney Reese said it had been a long time since she had seen a movie that “made an impact on people.”
Reese, the Olympic champion who has a gold medal from the 2012 games and a silver from the 2016 games, said she was so impressed with the film “Black Panther” that she wants to share it with others. So she decided to rent out a theater at the Cinemark16 in Gulfport on Saturday. And, by the way, she’s also in San Diego training for the long jump world championship March 4 in the U.K.
But she still wanted to allow kids to see “Black Panther.
Reese on Tuesday posted on her Facebook page that all of the tickets to the film had been given away. The screening is for children ages 1 to 11 only.
And her reason for doing it, she said, is personal.
“I took my son to see it and it was a great movie,” she said. “It made my son feel very special and it’s something we need at this time — it’s very important and people need to see it — I want to share with others how that movie made my son feel.”
The movie, which is the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, took in $192 million in its first weekend at the box office. The Clarion Ledger reports that actor Octavia Spencer bought out a screening at the Cinemark Tinseltown in Pearl and director and Mississippi native Tate Taylor is planning on paying for a screening in Natchez.
Although Reese is a hero to many on the Coast she said the timing was perfect for a person of color to have their own hero movie.
“My son is 10, so we go to see all of the super hero movies,” she said. “Movies aren’t always about people of color, older people have heroes, but younger people get to see someone their color being a hero and a king, which is very important, especially right now.”
