'Black Panther' Featured on Cover of EW's Special Oscars Issue

Awards Season went into full swing yesterday when the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were [...]

By Jamie Jirak

Awards Season went into full swing yesterday when the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were announced. One of the most exciting things about the announcement was the high number of nominations for Black Panther, which earned a total of seven including Best Picture, which is a first for Marvel Studios.

Considering the widespread love for the movie and the fact that it was the highest grossing film in the United States in 2018, it's no surprise Entertainment Weekly has deemed it cover-worthy for their upcoming Oscars 2019 issue.

"Check out @EW's special #Oscars double issue featuring #BlackPanther, on newsstands starting Jan 25," Marvel Studios tweeted.

The attached article dives into the importance of Black Panther and how it's had the most significant impact of any Marvel movie to date.

"Black Panther was the 18th Marvel movie of the Kevin Feige Era — which started with 2008's Iron Man — but it was the first one that carried with it the hopes and dreams of a demographic who've never seen themselves on screen like this, rendered with all the care and resources usually summoned for movies starring paler protagonists," EW explains.

"They were responding to [Ryan] Coogler's telling of the story of a young king in a fictional African nation that had never been colonized. And in an era when people of every hue were shouting from the rooftops that black lives did indeed matter, Black Panther felt like the dot on that exclamation point."

Not only is Black Panther the first Marvel movie to be nominated for Best Picutre, but it's the first comic book movie to receive the high honor. Back in 2009, The Dark Knight received eight nominations, and even took home the prize for Best Supporting Actor (which went to Heath Ledger, posthumously) and Best Sound Editing (Richard King). However, despite the film's success and recognition, it did not receive that coveted Best Picture nomination.

"If the Academy hadn't widened its gaze, Black Panther might not have gotten the nomination," EW adds. "Despite its critical acclaim — according to Rotten Tomatoes, it's the best-reviewed (and most reviewed!) wide release of 2018 — Black Panther isn't a traditional Black Oscar movie. Because it isn't about the thing that almost every black film that's been nominated for Oscars is: pain."

In addition to its Best Picture nomination, Black Panther is also up for Best Original Music Score (Ludwig Göransson), Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter), Best Sound Mixing (Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Peter J. Devlin), Best Sound Editing (Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker), Best Original Song (Sounwave, Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, SZA), and Best Production Design (Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart).

Pick up the Black Panther Oscar issue of Entertainment Weekly this Friday!

Black Panther is currently available for home-viewing. Other upcoming Marvel films include Captain Marvel on March 8, Avengers: Endgame on April 26, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5.

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