Black Panther at the Awards!

Black Panther is one of the top movies at the box office bringing in $700 million domestic and $1 billion, 346 million worldwide.  This of course a financial success and showed that the world is ready for a mostly black cast, director, and film.  It is not just the tide of Marvel Cinematic Universe since Avengers: Infinity War brought in less of a box office with $678 million and Ant-Man and the Wasp, $216 million.  It is undoubtably a cultural phenomenon, released February 16th, it was just the MCU movie before Avengers: Infinity War which opened on April 27th.  About two months between them.  In September 2017, director Ryan Coogler, Danai Guirara, and Nate Moore, producer, presented footage of the film to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.  The film bought out theaters by charities and actors.  Black Panther is strong with critics bringing in a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating which matches the rating of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.   It was the most tweeted film with 35 million tweets.  After the film’s release, on New York Fashion Week, designs inspired by the film were presented.  Black Panther was the first film to premiere in Saudi Arabia on April 18th since the 1980’s.  

So after financial and critical success, why would Black Panther need to collect awards?  Super hero films face backlash from award bodies.  Then is any superhero film worthy of award recognition. They have taken technical awards.  Superman (1978) won a special achievement award for its effects.  Batman (1989) took Best Art Direction.  Spider-Man 2 (2004) took the award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects.  Suicide Squad (2016) won Best Make-up and Hairstyling.  The only notable award was Heath Ledger post-humous win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for The Dark Knight (2008). So no wins or recognition for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, yet we know it’s power at the box office and fan recognition.  This is part of the Superhero Backlash.  The Golden Globes is no different, Black Panther was nominated for Best Picture, but lost.  Marvel Studios is serious about getting behind the push for Black Panther at the Oscars.  It hired Cynthia Schwartz for the Oscar campaign reported by the Los Angeles Times last August.  They have For Your Consideration; Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Rachel Morrison, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Hannah Bleacher, Best Costume Design, Ruth E. Carter, Best Make-up and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects, Best Director, Ryan Coogler, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Michael B. Jordan, Best Supporting Actress, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, and Angela Bassett, Best Original Score, Ludwig Göransson, Best Original Song, “All the Stars”, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.  

So let’s look at Black Panther’s chances.  Rachel Morrison was nominated, the first time for a woman cinematographer for Mudbound (2017), it would look good if she gets a win this year re-teaming with Ryan Coogler from Fruitvale Station (2013).  Hannah Bleacher was nominated at the Emmys for Beyonce: Lemonade (2016), but no recognition at the Oscars.  Ruth E. Carter was nominated for Best Costume Design for Malcolm X (1992) and Amistad (1997).  Ludwig Göransson was nominated for Best Original Score at the Golden Globes, but lost.  He was nominated at the 2018 Grammy Awards for the Record and Album of the Year and best R&B song with Donald Glover.  Göransson is again nominated this year working with Glover and also Best Score Soundtrack for Black Panther.  Director Ryan Coogler who also wrote the screenplay seems to be snubbed at the Academy Awards, his films and his direction don’t get nominated; Fruitvale Station, Creed (2015), and now Black Panther?  His vision made Black Panther possible, the Afro-futurism in the film has made a cultural change, I hope the awards nominate him, maybe that would be a start.  Similar to Ryan Coogler, Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan has not received award recognition from the Academy Awards.  Lupita Nyong’o of course won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave (2013).  Danai Gurira does not have award recognition at the Oscars or Golden Globes.  Letitia Wright is an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her “Black Museum” (2011) episode of Black Mirror.  Angela Bassett was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Actress for What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993) and won the Golden Globe for the film as Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The cast and crew of Black Panther have good backgrounds for awards recognition.  

Ludwig Göransson at the Black Panther screening, El Capitan Theatre, photo by the author. 

What will awards recognize mean for Black Panther?  I think it stands apart from the other MCU and even superhero films.  It has made the characters and even the fictional country of Wakanda inspirational.  Then, there is the viewership of the Academy Awards, it had it’s highest viewership, 55.25 million, in 1998 when Titanic took Best Picture.  A popular movie.  The trend has been to ignore popular films for the most part and only recognize dramas and movies that don’t connect with audiences.  This resulted in low ratings for the Academy Awards.  If Black Panther is even nominated, let’s set aside wins, it will return viewers, and connect award shows with audiences.  The Golden Globes this year is dropping viewers, 18.6 million, spreading the awards to the dramatic films.  The only standout was Bohemian Rhapsody, but of course without the controversial director.  The Academy Awards will suffer the same fate including problems with the host and its dragging run time.  I do recognize that winning the Academy Award gives some cache to films and filmmakers.  The Shape of Water won last year for Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro.  I hope this would enable del Toro to finally make At the Mountains of Madness, but he has upcoming Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark which he co-wrote the screenplay and produced.  Del Toro has his long in development Pinocchio film set for 2021.  Ryan Coogler has upcoming Wrong Answer with a screenplay by Ta-Nehisi Coates who wrote the Black Panther comic book.  Also, the sequel for Black Panther.  The Golden Globes usually favors celebrities for their awards and you could see the director and many of the actors were there for Black Panther.  I would expect at least three-four technical awards for Black Panther; Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, not only nominations, but wins since Wakanda and the rest of the locations were fully realizing a world.  Also, a nomination and win for Rachel Morrison, it would show bravery by the Academy and get excitement for her.  Hollywood seems to have a problem with diversity and this would recognize the talent of these professionals.  I would like Ludwig Göransson to be nominated, maybe not a win with the competition.  Strangely, First Man won the Golden Globe.  I don’t understand what is the problem with Ryan Coogler; at the least, I hope Black Panther gets nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, he would share it with co-writer Joe Robert Cole.  Even if Black Panther gets shut out, my loyalty is to Wakanda, WAKANDA FOREVER!   The Academy Award nominations closes on January 14th, then the announcement will be on January 22nd, let your salute sound until every voter can hear you!  

#BlackPantherBestPicture, #RachelMorrisonBestCinematography, #HannahBleacherBestProductionDesign, #RuthECarterBestCostume, #LudwigGöranssonBestOriginalScore.