‘Black Panther’ Becomes First Comic Book Movie Nominated For Oscars Best Picture
Tuesday morning saw the official announcement for the 2019 Oscars nominations released. While some nominations may have been a bit of a surprise, as well as the lack of certain nominations for some individuals, some very well deserved nominations came for Black Panther in a whopping seven categories.
While definitely a film that should be on that list, it is the first of its kind to be nominated for the prestigious award, as no other comic book movie has previously been afforded the honor of a Best Picture nomination.
According to Comic Book, however, it will have some stiff competition in that category. Other nominees for Best Picture include BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Roma, A Star Is Born, and Vice.
Black Panther was also a breakthrough film from a cultural perspective, set in a previously undiscovered fictional society in central Africa which had far exceeded the discoveries and technologies of the outside world. It was also the first comic book movie with an almost all-black cast.
Angela Bassett, who plays Ramonda, the Queen of Wakanda, had nothing but praise for the film, believing it deserves the award.
“I think the movie works so brilliantly on so many levels. It’s superhero, Marvel [Cinematic] Universe and all of that, but it connected with historians, it connected with culture, it connected globally, it just reached in and grabbed folks’ hearts and their minds and shattered so many expectations and preconceived notions.”
Black Panther makes Oscar history with first superhero Best Picture nomination https://t.co/qlI2ECis5q
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) January 22, 2019
Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige hoped that the film would be afforded the honor of an Oscar nomination.
“I think there are a lot of amazing artists that helped to make that movie, and it would be wonderful if they could be recognized. Almost everyone involved in that movie, bringing that movie together, is great, and it would be wonderful to see if they’re recognized.”
But he also knew how unlikely a nomination was given the history of comic book movies at the Oscars.
Aside from Best Picture, the film has also been nominated in the categories of Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.
The film was the highest grossing movie in North America last year, with over $700 million in ticket sales in the U.S. alone. Globally, it grossed over $1.3 billion. In fact, it is the ninth highest-grossing film in box office history, which certainly makes it worthy of the myriad of nominations it has just received.
Marvel films have previously been nominated for Academy Awards, but not in the coveted category of Best Picture. The first Avengers movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 have all been nominated in other categories, although none have won any silverware.
