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Oscars 2019: Black Panther fails to nab Best Picture, but still makes Marvel history with three big wins
Sadly, Black Panther didn't go the distance and take home Best Picture at the 91st Oscars, but it still made history by winning Marvel its first-ever Academy Awards.
The Ryan Coogler-directed superhero film was able to claw its way to the gold prizes for Best Costume Design (Ruth Carter), Best Production Design (Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart), and Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson).
The Russo Brothers, directors of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame (in theaters April 26), acknowledged Black Panther's wins on Twitter, writing:
"Congratulations to our Marvel family @theblackpanther for taking home 3 Oscars last night. A massive applause to Ruth E. Carter, Hannah Beachler and our dear Community pal Ludwig Göransson."
In addition to the top honor of the evening (won by Green Book, if you were wondering), the Marvel Studios movie also lost out on Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Original Song ("All the Stars"). Two music-based features, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born, struck gold in those three categories.
Even so, we got plenty of Panther alums as presenters: Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger), Angela Bassett (Queen Ramonda), and Trevor Noah (the computerized voice in Wakandan tech). Other MCU faces that cropped up were Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury). Even the late great Stan Lee got out a shout-out during the ceremony's "In Memoriam" segment.
Another major Marvel victor of the night was Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which got its sticky hands on the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. The critically acclaimed animated project beat out two Disney films—Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet—as well as Isle of Dogs and Mirai.
Wes Anderson's stop-motion Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat) was also up for Best Original Score, but obviously lost to Black Panther.
Disney's Mary Poppins Returns failed to achieve any wins for Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell), Best Original Score (Marc Shaiman), and Best Original Song (“The Place Where Lost Things Go”). That being said, there was a nice little moment when Keegan-Michael Key popped down from the ceiling, holding an umbrella, just so he could introduce the live performance of “The Place Where Lost Things Go," which was performed by Bette Midler.
While Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong biopic, First Man, heavily disappointed this awards season, it didn't go home empty-handed. Surprisingly, the film nabbed Best Visual Effects, pushing out Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Christopher Robin. However, the Ryan Gosling vehicle did not secure Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, or Best Production Design.
Nevertheless, the biggest snub in the Sound Editing category was for A Quiet Place, John Krasinski's sensory horror feature—his directorial debut. A few weeks back, his real-world wife, Emily Blunt, shocked everyone by winning Best Actress at the SAG Awards for her performance in the film.
All in all, the comic book genre didn't make the history books by winning Best Picture, but the strength of Black Panther and Into the Spider-Verse proved that superheroes can make culturally relevant art deserving of Hollywood's biggest prizes. As we close this particular chapter of genre filmmaking (at least until the sequels arrive), let us take a deep breath and scream, once more, at the top of our lungs: WAKANDA FOREVER!!!
