Wakanda Forever is a Major Oscar Contender Already
Back in 2018, Black Panther received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won three of them (Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design).
The newly arriving Black Panther: Wakanda Forever received such an ecstatic reaction from press and industry this week, that some are already predicting that it can take the awards which its predecessor missed and more, from a Best Director nomination for Ryan Coogler to a supporting actress nomination for Angela Bassett – listen, for example, to the latest episode of Screen Talk.
While critics are full of praise and enthusiasm, though still making reservations, as there are more long-awaited blockbusters around the corner, like the new Avatar, in case the Academy even decides to give its biggest awards to a blockbuster, fans so far are more skeptical.
Indeed, so far most people doubt that Wakanda Forever can take any award, but the Best Visual Effects category, plus, perhaps, other "technical" categories, such as Best Costumes, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing/Mixing, and so on.
Few movie fans on Reddit are especially impressed with near-frenzied PR surrounding the movie either: "…when something says "Believe the hype" that's usually a good sign that it's over-hyped."
Take note, how posts trying to join the chorus praising Wakanda Forever to high heavens barely get any upvotes on Reddit, while more skeptical opinions are clearly popular. While the consensus so far seems to be along the "just like the first Black Panther, massively hyped but in truth an average superhero movie, no more or less" line, continued attempts to put Wakanda Forever on a pedestal, if they become insistent and annoying enough, might possibly result in a backlash, and another case of massive divergence between critic and audience scores on various ratings websites.
That said, so far no one says that Wakanda Forever is actually bad or that the original Black Panther was bad – just not as good or ground-breaking as their hype indicated. If you like MCU movies in particular and superhero movies in general, you will probably like Wakanda Forever, and if not, it will probably won't change your opinion.
Wakanda Forever is scheduled to arrive in cinemas November 11, 2022.