In 1974, the top of the box office was:
Highest-grossing films of 1974
1. Blazing Saddles, Warner Bros., $119,500,000
2. The Towering Inferno 20th Century Fox / Warner Bros. $116,000,000
3. The Trial of Billy Jack, Warner Bros. $89,000,000
4. Young Frankenstein 20th Century Fox, $86,273,333
5. Earthquake Universal Pictures, $79,666,653
6. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, United Artists $61,984,039
7. The Godfather Part II, Paramount Pictures, $47,542,841
8. Airport 1975 Universal Pictures, $47,285,152
9. The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, Sunn Classic Pictures, $45,411,063
10. The Longest Yard, Paramount Pictures, $43,008,075
First, let’s pause to reflect on how great it was that Blazing Saddles AND Young Frankenstein topped the box office that year. Pause. Pause. Isn’t that awesome? Yes, too awesome for words. Now let’s recall that together they earned 5 Oscar nominations, including top-tier categories like Best Screenplay and Supporting Actress. Okay, moving on.
Here is what we know for sure:
1) Black Panther is probably peak superhero movie. How can any superhero movie be better?
2) It’s edging close to overtaking Titanic at the box office, and then it becomes the third highest grossing movie of all time. Domestic. (And no, not adjusted for inflation – otherwise we’ll be talking about Gone with the Wind every year until the end of time.)
3) It’s officially too big to ignore and has none of the drawbacks that hampered The Force Awakens, which has its merits for sure but was really not a lot more than fan fiction. It was almost a great Star Wars movie but it choked on its own nostalgia and thus, could not be taken seriously as a Best Picture contender.
4) It is undeniably, without a doubt, what people all over the country would call a Best Picture — meaning, what are we doing here, folks, if this isn’t what the Oscars were built to do: to reward high achievements in film.
Granted, I would not have put The Force Awakens, currently the highest grossing film of all time, on my top five – but I might very well put Black Panther there. Why? Because it goes beyond massaging the knob of nerd culture. It didn’t phone it in and it didn’t rely on the legacy of any other movie to succeed. Word of mouth is why people are going to see it. And why is the word of mouth so good? Because the movie is good.
When I started Oscarwatch in 1999 I did so because 1) the internet was wide open and anyone could do anything and that appealed to me. 2) I could never understand why Citizen Kane was considered the greatest film of all time (I think it is) and yet it did not win Best Picture. I understand why now. No consensus vote of thousands can ever really zero in on something that half of the people don’t get. Also, John Ford had won Best Director twice without winning Best Picture and when it came time for number three there was no question he would take it. Ang Lee now is where John Ford was then when How Green Was My Valley was about to win both Picture and Director. Should Ang Lee come up with a film that could win Best Picture, it will be a grand slam because Ang Lee will be due.
Over time, in the 20 years since I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen the focus shift away from movies people love to watch and over to movies only the critics and the industry approve of. That makes the Oscar pile smaller. If you have to please both the bloggers who are watching movies to see if the Academy will like them, and you also have to please the 200 or so Rotten Tomatoes critics, so-called, the last group of folks anyone is going to consider are the people you actually make movies for. After twenty years doing this, I do believe that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of critics and that could mean, ultimately, that the Oscars risk becoming a relic of the past, an awards show too insular for anyone other than acolytes to care — like the Tonys. No offense to the Tony Awards but they do appeal to a niche group and they really do think about success, so do the Grammys. The Oscars? Not so much. But I think movies should be made for people — for audiences — not necessarily for critics. The experiment has failed because many of the films that make it to the final pile will not last through to the next year, let alone the next ten years. The requirements have become too rigid. The pile is too small.
It might be harder to make the case for Black Panther if the movie was not that good, and if we were just talking about box office, or even historical precedent: highest grossing film by a woman, or by a director for color. Then you have to make the case that the Oscars should do what they don’t want to do and seem reluctant to do anyway — which is put a film they don’t think is prestige enough in the number one spot to call it one of the Best Picture of the Year. Thing is, I do think Black Panther is that good. I do think it will stand the test of time. And I do think it is more than worthy of being named one of 2018’s best films. If not enough of the voters agree, I think we can officially call the Oscars over as a mover and shaper and of film culture, if they weren’t already.
Is Black Panther perfect? No, but precious few movies are. Is it beautifully directed, written, acted, designed? Yes, it is.
What were the films nominated for Best Picture from 1974?
The Godfather II
Lenny
The Conversation
Chinatown
The Towering Inferno
There we see the full gamut of American film taste, a snapshot of the year in film that accurately reflects that moment in time. A slate of nominees that honored the highest art and still made room for outstanding examples of popular appeal. Okay, so we’re never going to get the 1970s back. We may never have as many great movies in a single like they made back then. But I would wager that one of the reasons it was such an exciting year for film and for the box office and for the Oscars was that the selections were not limited. The choices weren’t narrowed. There wasn’t a category for the “Oscar movie.” Not until Weinstein got into the game. I think it would be better overall if there was a wider net cast for the kinds of movies we all think of as high achievements in film.
As a movie writer whose task has evolved into sifting out best bets for awards chances, I feel like I’ve had a hand in narrowing the choices as part of an industry that predicts which will and which won’t “go.” And I hope I can have a hand in widening it back out to where it was when I started, when movies like Gladiator could still win Best Picture. The bigger the net, the more choices, the better way, ultimately, to find the best.
Also like Star Wars; The Force Awakens
So was Harry Potter and it was snubbed out of the Oscars, but all that aside I hope Black Panther gets in the Best Picture race, no can deny that the movie deserves to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar.
r. “After twenty years doing this, I do believe that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of critics and that could mean, ultimately, that the
Oscars risk becoming a relic of the past, an awards show too insular for anyone other than acolytes to care — like the Tonys”
I been predicting this at least lomg as u have sasha however…black panther is part of avengers. Black panther exists cos role it plays at it core by avengers . It not black panther that end year being most talked about it real unprecedentrd behemoth that shatter panther well earned record. Unprecedented avengers infinity war make no mistake if oscar forego this behemoth in favor of black panther it only reflect yet another missed opportunity embrace greatness in epic filmmaking . Everything story arcs sub plots scale ambition hype focus is set shift from panther to infinity war not since lotr or original star wars has been suxh expectation hard believe but now academy need stop fiddling round edges time to go fpr gold not silver no excuses oscar at LEAST deal major nominations for i finity war this year award it after sequel best pic several others at it co clusion.
Moreover oscar thin out of excuses self inflicted denial time reconnect with as u say sasha real people shape films success i fluence average moviegoer frankly time film critivs get off their self obseesed elitist high horse too they proven be out of step wirh public sentiment until recently
If I remember correctly, Black Panther broke the record of biggest sales of tickets before the actual opening… well, Infinity War has obliterated that record as it has already presold more tickets than the last 7 MCU movies did, combined. If BP opened to 200 million domestic, expect Infinity War to be really close to 300 million opening. This is beginning to look like a film that can reach 1 billion in the US b.o. alone. If my suspictions of “Fantastic” surprises in the film are confirmed, this is going to be the event film of the decade… that’s it, until next year Avengers 4 (likely called either “Secret Invasion” or “Secret Wars”) tops these expectations. Right now, everybody expects the Fox – Disney merger to happen right before Avengers 4 is released, so…
OT – OMG you guys, I love Tyler Perry’s ACRIMONY so much it hurts. It gives me the kind of feels you get from classics like THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT or I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. It has some De Palma styling too. Taraji P. Henson is everything. 10/10
As much as some people want to dismiss Black Panther as a film and its Oscar chances, I agree with Sasha that its impact is too big to ignore. If the Academy makes the same mistake they made with The Dark Knight ten years ago, they better prepare themselves for a crapstorm of epic proportions.
You listed Florence Kasumba for BSA in the sidebar but she barely had a role in Black Panther. I think you meant Danai Gurira.
Danai Gurira was best in show, for me. Fierce, vulnerable, dynamic.
The Godfather Part II came out on Christmas day 1974–so that 1974 figure is misleading.
Sasha – I see that you’ve added Black Panther to many categories in your Contender Tracker. I think one of the greatest chances the film has for a nomination is Michael B. Jordan in Best Supporting Actor. I’m surprised you’ve left him off – he was one of the strongest elements of the film for me.
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The intent of expanding the BP nominees was to attempt to include more films that were loved by the audience (you know… the receiving partner of the film making experience?) BUT since then of the 81 films nominated for BP only 5 also made the top 10 list for box office. Compare that to the 1930s which also had an expanded ballot. 87 BP nominees and 36 which ranked in the top 10 box office as well. Sasha’s point is spot on that the pile of screeners means that voters are deferring to cynical critics tired of “missionary position” movies and only get aroused by the equivalent of cinematic kink.
Pundits sneer at “genre” movies and like good lemmings, AMPAS voters don’t want to seem uncool and so watch or vote only for what the Mean Girls tell them to vote for. All well and good but then why bother televising the awards? Just announce them or hand them out at a private luncheon in keeping with their purists bent. If it is about “quality” then why bother promoting them with the lamest franchise in history? “Oscars Part 91 – My Film Made Less Money Than YOUR Film.” {Tongue mostly in cheek, but really why bother trying to have the ceremony appeal to the top box office audience then?)
Problem is, while there are some blockbusters that are actual masterpieces (“Die Hard”, “Jaws”, “The LEGO Movie”, “The Dark Knight”) some of them have been snubbed from even the nomination at Best Picture in favor of clearly inferior films with bigger Oscar bait.
On “Black Panther”… it is a great film, undoubtfully. But it wouldn’t be in my top 5 of last year (Colossal, Get Out, Blade Runner 2049, Phantom Thread, Call me by your name… it could sit around #14, after Logan (#8) and Thor: Ragnarok (#12), which I feel that are superior films. So yeah, it is good and yeah, it wouldn’t bother me to see it nominated for BP, at all… but I don’t think it’s a top 10 film, but really close to that (unless it’s a weak year, of course)
A couple of the more recent ceremonies show that attitudes are evolving, even if slightly (case in point: GET OUT WINNING Original Screenplay (in addition to being nominated for Picture, Director and Actor) and LOGAN being nominated for Adapted Screenplay, and BLADE RUNNER 2049’s wins for VFX and Cinematography (the original was hardly recognized back in the 1980s)). The expanding Academy membership no doubt has a part in this.
“BUT since then of the 81 films nominated for BP only 5 also made the top 10 list for box office. Compare that to the 1930s which also had an expanded ballot. 87 BP nominees and 36 which ranked in the top 10 box office as well.”
This is a little disingenuous – films like “Shanghai Express,” “Grand Hotel,” “Cavalcade,” “The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” “Imitation of Life,” “Mutiny on the Bounty,” “The Good Earth,” “Boys Town” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” would be lucky to crack the top 20 these days. They certainly wouldn’t even come close to sniffing the top 3, where these all placed. I’d say the preference of the general audience has changed far more than that of the average academy voter.
And what do you base that opinion on? The point is that the audience viewpoint has been dropped from the equation. Besides i could turn that around and say that films like Get Out wouldn’t have cracked the Top 20 with those audiences. There is a serious disconnect between the other half of the love-making equation that is cinema. That’s fine, but then why demand that audiences as big as those for the films they deliberately snub show up to adore them for the films that generally don’t even make most local theaters except for short very limited poorly attended runs? Who is the audience for art? The viewers or the creators?
Well the mumper of options has certainly expanded considerably
I don’t mean this as a personal offense against Sasha since I have the highest respect for her but some of the phrasing in this article really annoys me and strikes me as unintentionally mean. I really don’t like the way this article presents the Oscars as something only for Americans. You keep talking about domestic box office and using phrases like: “American film taste” and “What people all over the country would call a best picture” when describing what the Oscars are for and what they should do. The Oscars are not only for Americans. The Oscars have worldwide sway and are at least in a lot of cases infinitely more important to people of countries other than the States than for example their local film awards, which are in a lot of cases really small and meaningless awards that no one remembers the winners of two days after the awards are over (at least that’s the case with my country’s awards). The Oscars have the possibility of bringing people all over the world together, amaze at the beauty of cinematic achievements and talk about films passionately (like we do here at this site). And to call the Oscars only an American thing means that most of the people of the world, including a lot of the voting base, aren’t considered to be worthy to have their experiences and tastes be represented at the Oscars as their experience is not the American experience. And the idea of focusing on what a film means to the American audience also cheapens the movies themselves, telling what they mean to the American experience rather than what it means for the human experience.
Focusing only on American box office has the same effect, as it to some extent sends the message that the opinions of ticket buyers outside the States don’t matter and makes them somehow not part of the “people” whose opinions you seem to want to be a bigger part of what the Oscars choose to be their favorite films of the year.
That’s a good criticism, Ferdinand. Thank you for reminding me that it is too American-focused for sure. Old habits die hard!! I have to remember how to think globally. 🙂
It’s great. But saying no superhero movie could top it is a bit of a stretch since it already has been topped by Dark Knight. And Batman Begins to be honest.
Counterpoint: Gladiator sucked, and the fewer Best Pictures like that the better. I like the idea of the big crowdpleasing blockbuster winning “in theory,” but in practice, Oscar history has shown that this opens the door for lot of lousy movies in, and winning, the Best Picture race.
Black Panther was an excellent film and if I see 10 better movies than it in 2017, this will be a hell of a year for the cinema. I’d be more than fine with it, specifically, getting a Best Pic nomination — I just worry that opening the door to “big movies” in general will lead to mediocrity getting into the mix because it makes lot of money or has big stars attached.
“Gladiator”, while not a masterpiece, was probably the best film nominated for Best Picture on 2000. It’s true, it does not hold a candle to other 2000 films like “Requiem for a Dream”, “Cast Away”, “American Psycho”, “O Brother, where are thou?”, “Dancer in the Dark”, “The Emperor’s New Groove” – sooo underrated – and “Before night falls”, but it’s a nice parable/allegory on how entertainment serves to power, well directed and acted. I’m OK with “Gladiator” winning 4 out of its 5 Oscars (sorry, Crowe, that Oscar was Bardem’s out of the nominees, and maybe Bale’s if nominated).
Crouching Tiger and Traffic were both far better films, and way better choices as Best Picture. Gladiator was better than Chocolat and Erin Brockovich, not that that’s high praise….2000 was a weak overall Best Picture field
Traffic was overlong and messy, CTHD was Taoism for dummies (Zhang Yimou’s Hero, showed a couple of years later, how it is done… CTHD can’t hold a candle to Yimou’s masterpiece). My rank of the 2000 Best Picture nominees…
1. Gladiator **** / B
2. Erin Brokovich *** 1/2 / C+
3. Traffic *** 1/2 / C+
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ** / D
5. Chocolat * 1/2 / E
I agree with everything you said in your original post, but I am shocked – SHOCKED – to hear you say that Hero trumps CTHD.
This is coming from someone who loves & owns both (although I haven’t rewatched them in a while).
Granted I can’t think of any reasons why you’re wrong, I’ve just always innately considered Crouching Tiger the obviously superior, more poetic, film.
I guess I always thought of Hero as having more flash & less soul than Crouching Tiger (but maybe I let my young mind be swayed by Oscar’s embrace of the former). Hard to fault Hero. Love Zhang Yimou in House of Flying Daggers too.
2000 was a rubbish year at the Oscars without Requiem for a Dream or Dancer in the Dark.
My opinion comes as someone who has actually read the Tao Te Ching… CTHD is a watered down version of what it could have been, most of the fight sequences looked complete fake and it wasn’t half as deep as the multilayered, perfectly conceived and executed Hero. If Hero would have reached western audiences first, no one would be talking about CTHD… fact is, Hero had to be delayed 2 years in the american release (it competed for 2002’s Foreign Film but was running for 2004’s American Award season… and promptly the AMPAS had a brand new rule disqualifying it from running for ANY Oscar, as it was nominated in a previous cathegory, in Foreign Film… God knows how many Oscars would have earned Hero, given the chance… Production Design, Costume, Cinematography, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Director?). To me, Hero is the BEST film of the XXIst Century, so far… Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I have it as one of the most overrated (and I am a huge Ang Lee fan, since The Wedding Banquet!)
I think I’m the only person in the world who thinks the best film of 2000 was “Wonder Boys”.
Just an absolute delight of a film. A wholly unpretentious film about very pretentious people. I’ve lost count of how many times I have watched it.
Yeah, Wonder Boys was really good. I think only Gladiator is on par, out of the actual nominees… still, I preferred O Brother, Requiem for a Dream, Cast Away, American Psycho, Mulholland Drive or Before Night Falls for a Best Picture nomination… or Dancer in the Dark, Chicken Run…
There’s a *chance* Infinity War ends up disappointing, as Age Of Ultron did. (Though I doubt this happens since I think the Russos have things in hand, plus I really don’t want this to happen since I am beyond fired up for Infinity War.) But if it does come off as underwhelming, Black Panther will still stand out as the year’s true Marvel classic and maybe have a Best Picture shot. I mean, I guess Ant-Man & Wasp could also steal some attention, but….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4TSYgBVzy0
Main reason why I think Infinity War won’t live up to the hype, but still would rock enough, to erase Black Panther from Awards memory.
You Were Never Really Here (Ramsay, ’18): Holy shit. Best execution, I mean, film I’ve seen all year. (A)
Ready Player One says “not so fast because I am the best Film of the year”
The film in which SS stopped caring?
Spielberg deserves an award for turning that book into something that’s so watchable.
Totally agree. Spielberg is a very reliable director in that his films are – at the very least – watchable. He is one director whose upcoming films I will always watch primarily for this reason.
I was so amazed by the detailed perfection of every single element of this film. There are several scenes in this film that even very good filmmakers would often just shoot in very safe ways and even if they’d try to do something different, it would not look distinctive or personal in any way (for example the scene where Phoenix’s character finds the people in his housewould in my opinion be shot in the same way by 99% of filmmakers). But Ramsay understands what she needs from every single scene so perfectly and finds nuance from things that few can and thus everything feels incredibly complex but yet so effortless.
My #2 of the year so far after “Death of Stalin”.
Great film, especially in its second half.
Yes it will be nominated for Best Picture. But:
“How could any superhero movie be better?”
I’m guessing you haven’t seen Nolan’s Batman trilogy….
I wouldn’t have any problems whatsoever with Black Panther being a BP nominee, except for the bitter taste still in my mouth from The Dark Knight not getting in as the first superhero movie, and the fact that Coogler was already snubbed twice for better movies. Also I have already seen 4 movies I liked better this year (Annihilation, Tully, The Death Of Stalin and Isle Of Dogs), and there’s other very promising work both out in theaters right now that I haven’t caught yet (You Were Never Really Here, Lean On Pete, A Quiet Place, etc, etc) and on the horizon. I feel pretty strongly that this movie will not be in play at the end of the year, but again, if it were I’d have zero problems with it.
Oh and I am 100% not interested in arguing about Coogler’s movies. I love, love, love Fruitvale Station and Creed and no one is convincing me that Black Panther is better than either of them. The Coogler/Jordan pairing is one of the great modern examples of Director/Actor pairings. It certainly continues in Black Panther, but it was stronger in the other 2 films.
Then again, a couple of the more recent ceremonies show that attitudes are evolving, even if slightly (case in point: GET OUT – critical hit and even bigger commercial success which released in February – WINNING Original Screenplay (in addition to being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor) and LOGAN being nominated for Adapted Screenplay). This can be attributed (at least partly) to the expanding Academy membership.
Definitely a very valid point about changing demographics, but I will point out that Wonder Woman did not score with those same people so superhero bias may still be a factor despite the Logan nod (were Adapted not such a weak category last year I sincerely doubt that would have made it in, and also that movie was positioned very differently from most superhero movies in terms of tone and style whereas Black Panther is very much a Marvel movie).
Tur, but it is also worth noting that WONDER WOMAN also failed to get nominated anywhere at the major Guilds besides PGA. Usually a film like that needs a strong Guilds presence. It needs at least one of DGA or WGA (along with possible below-the-line guilds) to be a contender. Usually if a film scores the DGA/PGA/WGA nomination trifecta, they usually score at least one above-the line nod at the Oscars (Both the THE DARK KNIGHT and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO scored acting Oscar nods despite missing out on Oscars BP lineup after making the trifecta).
True*
Also, the pop culture impact of BLACK PANTHER is in many ways not to dissimilar to GET OUT (in terms of how it exceeded pre-release expectations and set various box-office records along the way).
Seriously, I can’t get enough of these… brilliant, every single one of them… The “50 Shades of Grey” is amazingly funny…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0MvS_NehZU
“pretty easy, barely an inconvenience”…
I have no issue with the superb “Black Panther” getting a Best Picture nomination, but then, the year has barely begun. It will rack up in the craft categories for sure. Ryan Coogler should get a shot at the DGA.
Reviews reviews reviews. If infinity war gets great reviews itll pass it. Liked black panther… can’t wait to see how the rest of the movies evolve but as a whole the Captain America series though is by far my favorite in that each entry was better than the one prior which is exceptionally rare for sequels and trilogies… and each entry also made more money than the ones prior. how rare is that? But nah itll be a while before the Oscars takes these movies seriously and trust me we’ve had some great entries lately. *sigh*
Nice to see the studio system being in decent shape at last and not just because of the highly acclaimed smash hit that is Black Panther but also because of the surprisingly thought-provoking A Quiet Place and lovely John Hughes-throwback, Love Simon. It’s barely April and I’ve already seen three studio films that I really, really liked. Usually there is three for the entire year. If that.
So true.
It’s been overall very strong this year. Black Panther is indeed one of the top tier Marvel movies thus far. Just saw Isle Of Dogs and the craft is off the charts on that one (even if the story is thin). Annihilation has held up really well in my head and repeated viewings also help solidify it as a worthy picture, and The Death Of Stalin is another winner from Iannucci. I’ve also seen Tully already and it is a return to form for Reitman/Cody and stands up proudly next to Young Adult. And even the lowbrow comedies have been solid (Game Night, Blockers) thus far. Ready Player One is very imperfect and disposable at times, but gives the audience at least a small handful of great moments to take home. I haven’t even seen You Were Never Really Here, Lean On Pete, A Quiet Place, Love, Simon, Paddington 2 or Early Man but I’ve heard great things about all of those as well. Let’s hope this streak carries through the rest of the year. It is not common for there to be this many notable films in the first 4 months of a calendar year, but here we are.
Annihilation was another rare gem that I really like but I was denied the cinematic experience in that case (UK Netflix deal), meanwhile the likes of The Death of Stalin, You Were Never Really Here,Paddington 2 were all 2017 screenings for me. Especially Lynne Ramsay’s latest, absolutely brilliant.
Black Panther is hardly a best of five Picture nominee, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t pick up some nomination heat in certain categories come the Oscars.
It should have a decent shot at a PGA nomination. PGA has a track record of nominating acclaimed tentpole blockbusters (case in point: SKYFALL, WONDER WOMAN, and THE DARK KNIGHT). Adapted Screenplay is also worth keeping an eye on, as well as Supporting Actor for Michael B. Jordan.
Return of the Jedi is the highest grossing film of all time? In what country?
She obviously slipped and was referrencing to The Force Awakens.
Yes, just a slip up. Fixed.
The error remains in point no. 3
*cough* The Dark Knight *cough*
The Dark Knight’s “geek” competition was Wall·E… they both could have been nominated, in case there were 10 slots… but they were not. They both divided the votes that would be cool with a genre blockbuster nominated at Best Picture and therefore none of them made the cut.
For “Black Panther” making the cut for Best Picture in a field of 5 slots, “Infinity War” would need to be below 80 in Metacritic AND not make as much money as “Black Panther”, something we already know it won’t happen (the later, as advance data on ticket sales has surpassed already “Black Panther”‘s initial numbers in the same aspect). Black Panther is 88 in Metacritic and 97% in RT (8,2 average… 100% CotC 8,9 average).
The Russo Bros. previous entries on MCU…
Winter Soldier: MC 70, RT 89% (7,6… CotC 80% 7,5)
Civil War: MC 75, RT 91% (7,7… CotC 91% 7,5)
Looking at this track record, and how huge and ambitious Infinity War is, it’s likely that Russo’s latest will reach those number (MC 80, RT 95…) which can eclipse or reduce “Black Panther”‘s zeitgeist momentum and syphoon appeal when awards season starts. So, while I think “Black Panther” is a really likely nominee in Make Up, Production Design, Costume… I have bigger doubts in other departments like Visual Effects, Sound cathegories, Cinematography, Score, Film Editing… and even Picture. They really can go for Infinity War, in a heartbeat, as the impact of the film and the nature and the project itself, parallels more with the whole “Lord of the Rings” triptic or the final Harry Potter film (which surprisingly was NOT nominated for Best Picture, despite it clearly deserved that nomination).
PGA will be key in this case, especially since (as I mentioned earlier) they nominate blockbusters. In conjunction with that, we also need to look at DGA and WGA (at least one of these nominations along with PGA means we should take it seriously as an awards player). ALL 3 nominations together means it will likely score at least one above-the-line nomination (both THE DARK KNIGHT and TGWTDT each received acting nods despite missing the Oscars BP lineup after scoring the DGA/PGA/WGA nomination trifecta).
Well firstofly, I think you mean The Force Awakens. If not, omg, thems fighting words. lol I really hope you did see my favorite movie last year, The Last Jedi. I never was sure if you did. I might have missed you talking about it.
Secondably, yeah it has made huge box office and other markers that other people should take into account. I also think that its biggest problem is not actually other Oscar movies but Infinity War. It all hinges on that one’s quality and total box office in my opinion. If it doesn’t stand out from that then the snobs will probably brush them both aside.
p.s. I saw Chappaquiddick today. I think there’s something there. Clarke did a great job but also Dern. 9/10 My theater was almost full. #Kennedycountry
While “The Last Jedi” was a certain improvement over the awful “The Force Awakens”… it still wasn’t good, just visually impresive.
Says you. :p
The film’s plot is basically laughable…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v2PV52WNLY&t
Eeek, of course you’re correct, Cherry. Thanks for the catch. That slipped right past me when I proofed it.
I plan to watch Chappaquiddick this weekend as well. So many great movies this weekend, from A Quiet Place, to Blockers, to You Were Never Really Here, Lean on Pete, Where is Kyra?, Sweet Country, The Endless …
The only other one out here is A QUIET PLACE, which I’m skipping because I’m chicken. Unless you guys all come back and tell me I have to see it in theater. Most horror movies I leave until home so I can watch it in a well lit room and hit pause.
Well, it makes for a cool theater experience because everyone in my theater was dead silent. But then there are those scary punctuations that made everyone audibly jolt. It was fun. But yeah, scary movies in the theater is not everyones cup of tea 🙂
What’d you think of Paterno?
I don’t have HBO when Game of Thrones isn’t on. 😀 I really considered paying for a month just for that tho. Maybe I will.
Not worth that much. Catch up with it when GOT returns.
Infinity War will probably also be huge box office-wise. If it gets good to great reviews, it might overshadow Black Panther. I mean, half the characters in Black Panther are featured in Infinity War.
As a project and as a challenge, Infinity War is heads and shoulders over Black Panther… if the results are similar in quality and b.o., the industry will be more likely to support Infinity War, which features most of Black Panther’s characters in it, anyways. It will all depend on Marvel choosing to do ANY Awards campaign at all, and in which film they will focus… last year they did bet on the wrong horse (GotG vol 2) as Thor Ragnarok just needed a little push to grab nominations in multiple cathegories (Costume, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Make Up, Visual Effects… maybe even Cinematography or Score). But the precedent of both franchises, Oscar-wise, made GotG prevail
Yeah, I thought Ragnarok was totally worthy for noms in Production Design (wow), Costumes, Sound, FX (wow), and Score.