Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" has just become only the third film in history to make $700 million domestically at the American box-office.
'Panther' is the highest grossing movie at the North American box-office this year, followed by "Avengers: Infinity War" ($677.7 million), "Incredibles 2" ($575.7 million), "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" ($399.8 million) and "Fox's Deadpool 2" ($317.8 million).
It's been six months since it first opened in theaters, but Coogler's superhero movie joins the only two other films to have ever crossed the $700 million mark: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($936.7 million) and "Avatar" ($760.5 million).
Coogler's movie is not just a success at home, 'Panther' has also gossed close to $1.346 globally.
Yes, it does seem rather silly to think about it now, but fall movie season is about to start and 'Panther' is still very likely to receive an Oscar Best Picture nomination. Marvel indeed has its first serious Oscar contender. Disney would really have to royally mess it up for this not happen. At the very least, recognition in the technical categories, especially Best Costume Design, feels like a given but we're going to see much more than just that come next year.
If “Black Panther” is nominated for best picture, then I will surely be in disagreement given that I had a mixed reaction to the film, but most of film critics will likely be doing somersaults, as its 88 Metascore and 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating indicates strong support for an Academy awards push. The film has audiences and critics on its side.
It would, no doubt, be a major accomplishment as no superhero movie has ever been nominated for Best Picture. However, it's not like superhero films weren't buzzed as potential Best Picture contenders in the past, “Wonder Woman,” "Logan," and "The Dark Knight" were all touted, at some point in time, as potential Picture nominees. In fact, the latter not being nominated resulted in such an embarrassment for the academy that they ended up going from 5 nominees to 10 the next year.
