Marvel Studios’ Black Panther took home numerous prizes at the NAACP Image Awards Saturday, including Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Motion Picture.
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Leading man Chadwick Boseman, who plays newly crowned Wakandan king T’Challa, was awarded Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, beating out Michael B. Jordan (Creed II), Denzel Washington (The Equalizer 2), John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman), and Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk). Jordan won his own trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role as Erik ‘Killmonger’ Stevens, winning out over Black Panther co-star Winston Duke, Brian Tyree Henry (Beale Street), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), and Russell Hornsby (The Hate U Give).
Danai Gurira, who plays Dora Milaje general Okoye, was named Outstanding Supporting Actress, winning over Black Panther co-stars Letitia Wright and Lupita Nyong’o. The stars competed against Regina Hall (The Hate U Give) and recent Academy Award winner Regina King (Beale Street).
Shuri star Wright was awarded Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture, topping Duke — also nominated for his Black Panther role as M’Baku — Washington (BlacKkKlansman), KiKi Layne (Beale Street), and Storm Reid (A Wrinkle In Time). Black Panther was also awarded Outstanding Ensemble Cast, defeating BlacKkKlansman, Crazy Rich Asians, The Hate U Give, and Widows.
Director Ryan Coogler was awarded Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture, competing against Barry Jenkins (Beale Street), Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Steve McQueen (Widows), and Alan Hicks and Rashida Jones (Quincy). Coogler, who competed for Entertainer of the Year but lost to Beyoncé, also took home the prize for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture with co-writer Joe Robert Cole.
Its soundtrack, curated by Kendrick Lamar, was awarded Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation, while Lamar and SZA won Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration for end credits anthem “All the Stars.”
Black Panther‘s wins for Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Ensemble come weeks after the film’s stars won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
“To be young, gifted and black, we all know what it’s like to be told that there is not a place for you to be featured,” Boseman said in January when accepting the SAG.
“Yet you are young, gifted and black. We know what it’s like to be told there’s not a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on, we know what it’s like to be the tail and not the head. We know what it’s like to be beneath, and not above. And that is what we went to work with every day. Because we knew not that we would be around during awards season or that it would make a billion dollars, but we knew that we had something special that we wanted to give the world. That we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing, that we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see.”
Black Panther grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of all time, and just the third film in history to earn more than $700 million at the domestic box office. A sequel is now in development with Coogler returning as writer-director.
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