Released theatrically nearly a year ago, Black Panther has broken records left and right to become a cultural phenomenon. And now that the 2019 Oscar nominations are out, it can add even more accolades to its belt.
The Academy announced Tuesday that Black Panther is up for seven Academy Awards, including best picture, which makes the Marvel movie the first superhero or comic book film to be nominated for Oscar’s most prestigious honor. The nomination for Marvel Studios is years in the making—as well as a victory for Marvel Studios’ first-ever Oscar campaign—arriving 10 years after the Academy’s snubbing of The Dark Knight for best picture led to an expanded best picture category. It also arrived amid the Academy creating (and then nixing) a popular film category last year, a move that some saw as a way to award Black Panther an Oscar without giving it a best picture nomination.
Black Panther also received Oscar nominations in several technical categories. Ruth Carter was nominated for costume design, breaking through in a category that, more often than not, gives nominations to familiar names when its genre ties aren’t a guarantee. Hannah Beachler is the first Black production designer to be nominated for an Oscar; she’s nominated for production design alongside set decorator Jay Hart. Kendrick Lamar is up for best song for “All the Stars,” alongside Mark Spears, Anthony Tiffith, and Solana Rowe, while Ludwig Burnesson’s composition received a nomination for best score. The film also received nominations for sound editing and sound mixing, which sees Steve Boeddeker nominated for both categories, alongside Benjamin A. Burtt for sound editing, and Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin for sound mixing.
However, the Academy chose Avengers: Infinity War over Black Panther for a visual effects nomination and also overlooked Black Panther writer-director Ryan Coogler and cinematographer Rachel Morrison, the only woman to ever be nominated for cinematography (for Mudbound), in their respective categories. Michael B. Jordon was also snubbed for best supporting actor, as many believed his performance of Black Panther villain Erik Killmonger might grant him a nomination.
Overall, though, Black Panther’s seven nominations make it the second most-nominated superhero film behind The Dark Knight (which won for sound editing and a posthumous best supporting Oscar for Heath Ledger).
It’s not the only superhero or comic book film to receive nominations this year, either. The Incredibles 2 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are both competing in the animated feature category, which has historically been a little more favorable toward the genre; The Incredibles and Big Hero 6 have previously won in that category.
How are these films’ chances? Black Panther will have a strong chance in some of the technical categories, but it faces stiff competition from the top Oscar-nominated films of the year, like Roma and The Favourite, as well as controversial Golden Globe winners Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody. As for the animated films, Pixar and Disney films have dominated in that category, but Into the Spider-Verse has been winning many of the major awards leading up to the Oscars, including the Golden Globe. Chances are very likely we’ll see at least one of these films grab an Oscar, but even if none of them win, the nominations themselves will help change the perception of what an Oscar-nominated film looks like.
The 91st Academy Awards airs Feb. 24.
