2018’s “Black Panther” made $700 million at the domestic box-office. A lot has changed since then.

The sequel, ‘Wakanda Forecer,’ for obvious reasons, will not have Michael B. Jordan and the late Chadwick Boseman. In fact, the creators have decided to just kill off Boseman’s T’Challah AkA Black Panther.

It all leaves you to wonder why they didn’t just recast T’Challah with another actor. Just because the actor died in real life, it doesn’t mean you can’t replace him. So, this implies that Director Ryan Coogler and his writing/story staff have decided to rely on the supporting characters for the sequel — which is why some pundits are predicting an Oscar nomination Angela Bassett (ha!)

Now comes a red flag, courtesy of Variety. It turns out that the box-office projections for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” are pretty weak, at least when compared to the original:

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” has the untimely death of star Chadwick Boseman and his subsequent absence working against it, making its projected $424 million domestic haul well below what its 2018 predecessor pulled in.

This would mean that, if the projected earnings from Variety are correct, ‘Wakanda Forever’ will have grossed 40% less than the original film. It’s unusual given that sequels tend to gross more than their predecessors, but the cards have indeed been stacked against the sequel with no Boseman and Jordan.