Black Panther & Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Score Oscar Nods!

The official nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were revealed this morning by presenters Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross, and acclaimed superhero films Black Panther and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse scored some big nominations!

Black Panther got the big nod for Best Picture, along with Production Design (Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart), Costume Design (Ruth Carter), Original Score (Ludwig Goransson), Original Song (“All The Stars”), Sound Mixing (Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin) and Sound Editing (Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker). That’s an impressive seven nominations, and the first Best Picture nod for mega-producer Kevin Feige at Marvel Studios.

Besides being a landmark for representation in the big budget superhero sphere, Black Panther also joins only a handful of other genre films in the history of the Oscars to get major category nominations. Others include: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Aliens, Inception, Star Wars, The Dark Knight, The Exorcist, Carrie, E.T., Starman, Avatar and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Meanwhile the critically lauded Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse scored a Best Animated Film nomination for Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The Sony Pictures film faces some formidable competition in fellow superhero flick Incredibles 2 from Pixar, as well as Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet, Fox Searchlight’s Isle of Dogs and Toho’s Mirai. Disney/Pixar’s firewall in this category has meant that only four non-Disney films have won the award since it was founded in 2001. This is also only the third time a superhero film has been nominated in this category after The Incredibles in 2004 and Big Hero 6 (another Marvel property) in 2014, the fourth being Incredibles 2.

Spider-Verse is considered a front-runner in this category, though, having beat the competition in this category for most of the major critics group awards so far announced, not to mention that sterling 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Incredibles 2 (94% on RT) cannot be underestimated, however, both for the legacy of the title and the Pixar brand as well as the over $1.2 billion the film took in worldwide. Spider-Verse has taken in only a modestly successful $325 million worldwide so far.

The 91st Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.