Fandango fans’ pet Oscar pick is ‘Panther’
Moviegoers already gave “Black Panther” last year’s box-office crown. Now they’d also hand it the Oscars’ top prize with a resounding “Wakanda forever!”
A poll of more than 3,000 frequent moviegoers by movie ticket site Fandango.com exclusively for USA TODAY found that the Marvel superhero blockbuster (which racked up $700 million at the box office) would be their choice to win best picture at the 91st annual Academy Awards (ABC, Sunday, 8 ET/5 PT). The film starring Chadwick Boseman as a ruling African warrior ranked first with 46 percent of film lovers who said they’ve seen a majority of the nominated pictures, and “Panther” bested a pair of fellow Hollywood hits: musical drama “A Star Is Born” (19 percent) and Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” (18 percent).
The civil-rights-era dramedy “Green Book” (14 percent) ranked fourth, followed by Spike Lee’s 1970sset cop film “BlacKkKlansman” (8 percent), Netflix darling “Roma” (7 percent), period farce “The Favourite” (6 percent) and political quasi-satire “Vice” (4 percent).
Fandango managing editor Erik Davis credits “Black Panther” with bringing audiences together and creating a cultural movement.
“It reminded them that entertainment could also be meaningful and change lives and change the world,” he says.
Playing Freddie Mercury, “Bohemian Rhapsody” star Rami Malek rocked this year’s audience vote for best actor, placing first by a large margin with 44 percent.
“He’s an actor that a lot of people are just championing right now and want to see go to that next level,” Davis says.
Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”) was second with 20 percent, Christian Bale (“Vice”) third with 19 percent, Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”) placed fourth with 11 percent, and Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”) came in fifth with 6 percent.
Lady Gaga’s huge fan base came out for the Mother Monster: With 42 percent of the vote, the “A Star Is Born” superstar ranked No. 1 for best actress, followed by 22 percent for Glenn Close (“The Wife”), 13 percent for both Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) and Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), and 10 percent for Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”).
“A lot of people love (Gaga) in general, but also she gives a lot of herself to
this performance, and so much of it is personal,” Davis says.
With 40 percent of the supportingactor vote, Mahershala Ali takes the honors for his role as a black classical musician touring the Jim Crow South in “Green Book.” He “reminds you that nuance in a performance is still something that’s very valuable to people,” Davis says. Sam Elliott (“A Star Is Born”) garnered second place with 28 percent, Adam Driver (“BlacKkKlansman”) was third with 16 percent, Sam Rockwell (“Vice”) took fourth with 10 percent, and Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) placed fifth with 6 percent.
Regina King, who stars as a righteous mom in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” was the audience’s pick for best supporting actress with 35 percent.
“A lot of people feel like it’s Regina King’s time,” Davis says. “Favourite” co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz were second (24 percent) and fourth (15 percent) respectively, Amy Adams of “Vice” (19 percent) was third, and “Roma” actress Marina de Tavira (7 percent) rounded out the category.
And Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”) won the fans’ vote to get his first bestdirector Oscar with 36 percent.
“It took him a long time to get into this category, and I think he deserves it and he really wants it, too,” Davis says.
Critical favorite Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) was the runner-up with 25 percent, followed by Adam McKay (“Vice”) with 18 percent, Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”) with 14 percent and Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”) with 7 percent.