The superhero film genre has finally broken into the top Oscar category this year, and Marvel is having its best Oscar year in the studio’s history, as “Black Panther” earns a stack of important nominations.
Whether you’re a Marvel fan, a DC fan, or — like me — a fan of both, today is a day for celebration. At long last, the superhero film genre has broken a major artistic barrier, as director Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster Marvel Studios picture Black Panther received a Best Picture nomination for the 91st Academy Awards ceremony, as I and many others predicted was inevitable.
Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan do battle in Marvel’s “Black Panther” Source: Marvel Studios
Black Panther is the highest-grossing solo superhero film ever made, amassing $1.34 billion in global box office ($700 million of which was domestic and $648 million foreign) and a massive $90+ million in domestic DVD/Blu-ray sales alone (this does not count domestic rentals or Digital-HD, or any international sales or rentals, to give you an idea of how huge the number is). Black Panther became a cultural phenomenon and a turning point in how studios and the public perceive and (hopefully, going forward) approach diversity in superhero cinema.
Notably, Black Panther is one of three Best Picture nominees this year — out of eight total — featuring lead characters who are people of color, in stories about people of color’s lives and experiences. It is absurd that this is even a notable point, and that says something about how far we still have to go in cinema to achieve anything approaching a true commitment to diversity. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important to notice and point it out when it happens, to applaud it, and to loudly and consistently demand more.
This is also the year when Spike Lee finally (FINALLY!) received his well-deserved and long-overdue nomination for Best Director for his marvelous film BlacKkKlansman (I’d have nominated him for Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and Chi-Raq too, personally, and would’ve given him the win for Malcolm X).
