‘Black Panther,’ ‘Abbott Elementary’ lead Image Award nominations

The big-budget sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” scored a leading 12 nominations Thursday for the 54th NAACP Image Awards, while ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” led the way among television productions with nine nods.

The awards celebrate “outstanding achievements and performances of people of color” in categories including film, television, music, literature and podcasts.

“Black Panther” was nominated for outstanding motion picture, along with “A Jazzman’s Blues,” “Emancipation,” “The Woman King” and “TILL.”

The film’s Letitia Wright was nominated for best actress in a motion picture, while three performers from the film were nominated for best supporting actress — Golden Globe winner Angela Bassett, Sanai Gurira and Lupita Nyong’o — and Tenoch Huerta was nominated for best supporting actor.

Also nominated for best actress were Danielle Deadwyler of “TILL,” Keke Palmer for “Alice,” Regina Hall for “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” and Viola Davis for “The Woman King.”

Hall’s co-star in “Honk for Jesus,” Sterling K. Brown, was nominated for best actor, as were Daniel Kaluuya for “Nope,” Jonathan Majors for “Devotion,” Joshua Boone for “A Jazzman’s Blues” and Will Smith for “Emancipation.”

“Abbott Elementary” will compete for best comedy series honors with FX’s “Atlanta,” ABC’s “black-ish,” HBO Max’s “Rap Sh!t” and ABC’s “The Wonder Years.”

Drama series nominations went to Peacock’s “Bel-Air,” Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” HBO Max’s “Euphoria,” Starz’s “P-Valley” and OWN’s “Queen Sugar.”

The Image Awards will be presented during the show’s first live ceremony in three years, on Feb. 25, airing on BET. The show will be held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

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