Rotten Tomatoes, known mostly for being the site where you can check, while you're rushing to the theatre, "is this movie watchable?" also has an end-of-the-year awards ceremony called "The Golden Tomato Awards," where the–statistically–best movies of the year are announced. In the biggest category of "wide release," Black Panther is the winner.
What is wide release? Well: "six hundred theaters. That’s all it takes to make it onto our list of wide releases. That, and the undying, near-unanimous adulation of critics." In other words, a mainstream movie. This category bears a striking resemblance to the new award that's being introduced in this year's Oscars: "Outstanding Popular Film." The new category is divisive, with some happy (like Mark Wahlberg, who can maybe get an Oscar now) and others bemoaning the death of the awards show's integrity. A lot of people even think Black Panther is the reason that the new category was created, some praising the Academy for expanding their scope, others pointing out the troubling subtext:
However you feel about it, it bodes well for Black Panther that it won the #1 award from an aggregator of criticism/taste and hype, because, especially considering their new category, what are the Oscars, if not an aggregator of criticism, taste and hype?
