Black Panther has made its presence felt this awards season… but how far can it go?

December 13th, 2018 by Irwin Fletcher Comments

It looks like Marvel are set to make some history in the coming weeks and months with Black Panther.

The movie is already a monster success story for Marvel/Disney, making $1.3 billion worldwide, with a $700 million domestic US gross which is bigger than that of Avengers: Infinity War’s $678 million. This makes the movie Marvel’s biggest (domestic) hit so far and the year’s biggest movie domestically.

This is of course a big wake up call for Marvel which, until that point had relied on white heroes to bring home the money. And, of course, they will be hoping that Captain Marvel will create the same buzz for a female-led tale next year – although DC/Warners already beat them to the mark with Wonder Woman.

Of course, being part of a generation that grew up with heroes like Blade, Lando Calrissian, Morpheus, Axel Foley, Apollo Creed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley and many more, we already knew years ago what seems to be a big revelation today.

That said, the awards have always been a wastland when it came to superheroes, especially ones of colour and this awards season could be one to change all that.

Black Panther has steadily left a big impact on the world, having just this week made the IMDb’s annual list of the top 10 films of the year, sitting second only to Avengers: Infinity War.

This week too, the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations saw Black Panther nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with star Chadwick Boseman standing  alongside fellow nominees Angela Bassett, Sterling K. Brown, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, and Letitia Wright.

Here, Marvel Studios normally get nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture, so it’s a big deal, indeed.

The movie also scored success this week as the African-American Film Critics Association announced the movie as their best picture of 2018.

It also scored best director honors for Ryan Coogler and best song for Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s All the Stars.

AAFCA co-founder Shawn Edwards said in a statement: “The film changed the culture and became a defining moment for Black America. Many have waited a lifetime for a moment like this and Black Panther delivered with a multi-generational appeal never before seen.”

Add to this, Black Panther joins the World Cup and Meghan Markle in Google’s 2018 global search trends

The movie has also earned three Golden Globes nominations for best original score by Ludwig Goransson; best original song by Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, Mark Spears, Solana Rowe, Al Shuckburgh and, most importantly, best motion picture in the drama arena.

The odds look slim for a victory, but the mere inclusion of Black Panther for Best Drama Motion Picture at the Golden Globes could make for a groundbreaking Academy Awards nomination as well.

And Marvel/Disney are pushing hard for Academy success, with nominations in almost all the big categories and star Angela Bassett believes the movie can only find more glory: “In my mind, it has the Oscar. I think it deserves it,” she says.

“I think the movie works so brilliantly on so many levels. It’s superhero, marvel 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.”

And who are we do disagree with a legend like Bassett?

I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.