Christopher Nolan thinks Black Panther will get a Best Picture nomination

March 7th 2018, 10:51am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The Oscars proved yet again this year that they have little interest in nominating major comic book movies for top-tier awards. Movies like THOR: RAGNAROK and WONDER WOMAN received no nominations despite being hailed by critics and audiences around the world. Many in the movie community are wondering when a movie will finally break the mold and snag a key nomination for Best Picture, and director Christopher Nolan thinks we now have that movie with BLACK PANTHER.

Deadline’s Pete Hammond caught up with many of last Sunday’s winners at the post-Oscar ceremony festivities, and there he was able to catch up with Best Director nominee Nolan, whose movie, DUNKIRK, won three awards. The two chatted about the 2019 Oscars, and it was then Nolan predicted that Marvel’s PANTHER will get a nomination for Best Picture.

That may sound like a bold prediction, but as of now, the possibility is very much on the table. The movie is on its way to cracking $600 million at the domestic box office, which is a total that should go unmatched throughout the rest of the year (unless INFINITY WAR is massive). As well, the movie holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with over 300 reviews, with pundits already predicting it will get nominations for its makeup, costumes, and production design.

What helps matters, even more, is that Hammond was also able to chat with a Disney exec, and they said that the studio fully intends on giving PANTHER a hefty Oscar campaign. On top of that, they also plan on doing one for MARY POPPINS RETURNS, which apparently the studio is very happy with, and believes Emily Blunt has a serious shot at Best Actress nominations (Julie Andrews won the prize for the original movie).

The movie does have an uphill battle to climb. Nolan’s own THE DARK KNIGHT broke barriers when it was nominated for seven Oscars back in 2009, winning Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger’s work as The Joker. The fact it was excluded from Best Picture led to the Oscars opening the BP nominees to 10 possible entries, but still, no comic book movie has broken through. This year’s LOGAN secured a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, which was a big deal, but WONDER WOMAN, a movie many thought could secure a BP nom, received no nominations of any kind.

Though it’s incredibly early to start predicting Oscars for 2019, I have to agree with Nolan. The movie’s box office intake, reviews, and effect on the culture are all too impressive to ignore – much like GET OUT last year. This is a movie people will be talking about by the end of the year, and given how the Academy is getting an increasing amount of crap about excluding movies like this, I feel it will be enough to get into the Best Picture race. Is it my favorite movie in the genre? No, but I'm all for a Marvel movie, or any comic book movie, finally being represented on the biggest stage of them all.

BLACK PANTHER is in theaters now.