“Bob Marley: One Love” was one of eight films nominated in the “Best Picture” category for the 2024 BET Awards. The biographical Marley film was released in theaters on February 14, 2024, and took in $51 million in its opening. Award winners will be announced on BET in a live presentation ceremony on June 30, 2024.
The film’s story and reception
The film follows Marley and his band, The Wailers, during the period in which they recorded their 1977 album, “Exodus” and performed at the One Love Concert. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, the film stars Kingsley Ben Adir as Marley and Lashawna Lynch as his wife, Rita. According to Billboard magazine, the movie ranks as the fifth highest-grossing cinema music biography in history, and BoxOfficeMojo, a US website that measures box-office revenue, determined it had grossed nearly $97 million in the United States and just over $177 million globally as of May 2024. The film also attained a 92-percent audience approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, a film and television review website.
BET and the awards program
Black Entertainment Television (BET), the first television network targeting Black audiences in the US, launched in 1980 under the leadership of Robert L. Johnson, who previously served as a lobbyist for the cable industry. The network is currently owned by Paramount Global via the CBS Entertainment Group and by 2015 was received in almost 76 percent of households that have television. The BET Awards, tagged as “Culture’s Biggest Night,” were established in 2001 to celebrate Black and other minority entertainers in film, music, sports, and philanthropy. BET has stated that in 2024 the awards will include more international and emerging performers. Voting for the Viewer’s Choice Award is slated to start in June 6, 2024. The other films nominated for “Best Picture” include “American Fiction,” “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” The Book of Clarence,” The Color Purple,” “The Equalizer 3,” and “The Little Mermaid.”
Photos – Paramount Pictures
