Midday at the Movies: Oscar Picks, ----Black Panther---- and the Changing Film Biz

Welcome to another edition of Midday at the Movies…The 90th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday night, hosted once again by talk show host (and social activist) Jimmy Kimmel. Excitement about this year's awards is running high because of a notably diverse and independent crop of films, filmmakers and performers. On today's Midday at the Movies, we preview a bit of that excitement by offering up some predictions of Oscar glory with two of our favorite movie mavens: Joining Tom in the studio is Jed Dietz, the founder and director of the Maryland Film Festival,which runs the newly restored SNF Parkway Theater in Baltimore.Also with us in the studio is Max Weiss, the editor in chief and film critic for Baltimore magazine.Before the conversation turns to the Oscars, however, Tom and his guests discuss the cinematic phenomenon that's been sweeping not only U.S. theaters the past three weekends, but the international film market as well: Black Panther. An Africa-centered sci-fi action-hero film that was produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures and directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther has been attracting massive global audiences. As of Tuesday this week, the worldwide box office had reached $748.1 million, and the movie is chasing new domestic and foreign records for weekend receipts. Tom will be taking a closer look at the social and cultural significance of the Black Panther movie next Tuesday (3/06) on Midday's Culture Connections, with regular guest Dr. Sheri Parks, professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and special guest Dr. Stanford Carpenter, a cultural anthropologist, artist, comic book creator and head of The Institute for Comic Studies in Chicago.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.