Kevin Feige discusses Black Panther Oscar campaign plans
With the recent announcement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that a new category is being designed around achievement in popular film, many have been wondering how this will influence Oscar campaigns for films moving forward now that “popular” mainstream films have the chance to put their hat in the ring. For some studios like Marvel, the addition of this new category will in no way impede their initial Oscar campaign strategies, especially with regard to this year’s runaway hit Black Panther.
After the global success of the film, it has been no secret that Marvel Studios was preparing to throw the movie into the award show circuit. However, with a pop culture-heavy film like Black Panther, figuring out an award-worthy campaign for the film is paramount. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige sat with The Los Angeles Times and laid out his ideas for how he would like to structure his Oscar campaigns for Black Panther, making a point to emphasize the impact the film made on moviegoers and the “creative accomplishments” made from the film.
“I would like to see the hard work and the effort and the vision and the belief of the talented filmmaker Ryan Coogler, who sat across the table from us a few years ago and said, ‘I have been wrestling with questions about my past and my heritage and I think I really want to tell a story within this movie,’ ” Feige shared with The Times. “And that he did it so unbelievably well and with so much impact…seeing that potentially being recognized is what excites me the most.”
The global cultural phenomenon of Black Panther dominated the box office charts emerging as the third biggest movie of all time domestically with over $665 million – the first film in eight years to spend five weeks at No. 1 – and rising to the global top 10 of all time with over $1.3 billion. And reminding people, especially those within the Academy, of the importance and global impact of the film will be the key ingredient to Black Panther‘s Oscar success.
Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman (Captain America: Civil War, Get on Up), Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Fruitvale Station), Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 12 Years a Slave), Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead, All Eyez on Me), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit trilogy, Sherlock), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Sicario), Letitia Wright (Urban Hymn, Glasgow Girls), Winston Duke (Person of Interest, Modern Family), with Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett (American Horror Story, London Has Fallen), with Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Lee Daniels’ The Butler) and Andy Serkis (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) directed from a screenplay he wrote with Joe Robert Cole (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story). Kevin Feige is a producer with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nate Moore, Jeffrey Chernov and Stan Lee serving as executive producers.
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