Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been officially shortlisted by the Academy in five different Oscars categories. The organization announced the films they have whittled down from their eligible longlist titles in ten categories, including Animated and Live-Action Short, Documentary, International Feature Film, and Original Song. Those lists will then be whittled further into the official five nominees in each category, announced on January 24, 2023. The Oscars ceremony is set to take place on March 12, 2023.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever officially landed on five categories of shortlists. It is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 film from 2022 to appear on more than one of the ten shortlists, which also feature May's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the Visual Effects Category. The five categories in which the Black Panther sequel is featured are Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Sound, and Original Song (for "Lift Me Up" by Rihanna).

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Could Black Panther 2 Win As Many Oscars As the First Film?

Wakanda Forever is the follow-up to the original 2018 hit Black Panther, which was well-decorated at the following year's Oscar ceremony. In 2019, the film was nominated in seven categories, including Best Picture, making it the only MCU film to earn that distinction. The film ended up taking home three trophies total for Production Design (Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart), Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter), and Original Score (Ludwig Göransson).

Each of those key crew members returned for the sequel (except Hart, the original set decorator who Lisa K. Sessions replaced), which could mean that the film is operating at a similar level of prestige firepower in this year's awards season. However, the critical and cultural reception of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been somewhat muted compared to the original film. Black Panther 2018's box office broke records and outgrossed every other film of the year, landing the movie at number 14 on the list of the highest-grossing films of all time worldwide, while Wakanda Forever has amassed a hefty but more subdued sum (partially because it didn't get a release in China). The original film's Rotten Tomatoes score (96 percent) also exceeds the sequel by 12 percent.

Being present on the shortlists also isn't a guarantee that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will earn a nomination in each of those five categories. Once the official nominations are announced, it will be slightly easier to predict if the sequel can match the original's three wins. However, it seems unlikely that the sequel will amass the buzz needed to do a clean sweep of the 2023 Academy Awards.

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Source: THR

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