Movies

Netflix leads studios and streamers with 16 Oscar nominations and a shot at best picture

BBG News

This morning brought a successful turn of events for Netflix at the Oscars. Based in Los Gatos, California, they outperformed all other studios and streaming platforms with a total of 16 nominations. This impressive haul was largely due to the popular “Emilia Pérez,” which could potentially be Netflix’s most promising contender yet for the Best Picture award.

Indie studio A24 followed closely with 14 feature film nominations, ten of those nods going to “The Brutalist,” a nearly 3½-hour long movie featuring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect who emigrated to America post-World War II.

1) Universal Pictures, along with its division Focus Features, earned a total of 25 nominations, placing them among the top four contenders. The Universal studio, owned by Comcast, was celebrated for the commercially successful musical “Wicked.” Meanwhile, Focus Features received recognition for the films “Conclave,” a drama about the papal election, and “Nosferatu,” a horror movie, thus making Comcast the most nominated company across all nominations.

Searchlight Pictures, a division of The Walt Disney Company, garnered 10 nominations, with eight of those going to the Timothée Chalamet-starring Bob Dylan biopic titled “A Complete Unknown.” When adding up the nominations from all of Disney’s units, they ended up with a total of 15 nominations. Among these were a nomination for the hit animated film “Inside Out 2” in the category for Best Animated Feature.

Simultaneously, independent studio Neon earned seven nominations, particularly for “Anora.” Art-house streaming service Mubi secured six nods, highlighted by the body horror film “The Substance,” featuring Demi Moore. Warner Bros. Pictures garnered five nominations, while Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics both received three.

Apart from Netflix and Mubi, streaming platforms saw a relatively subdued start on Thursday compared to previous years. Amazon MGM Studios earned two nominations for “The Nickel Boys”, while Apple TV+ did not receive any. In contrast, last year Apple TV+ received 13 nominations but didn’t win any awards at the Oscars ceremony.

The subdued response from streaming platforms collectively indicates shifts in strategy among certain companies, because it’s not necessarily the case that winning awards automatically increases their subscriber numbers, according to Stephen Galloway, Dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

As a film critic, I’d say, “I don’t believe the typical Oscar-winning film is going to draw in hordes of new subscribers.

As a passionate cinephile, I can’t help but reflect on Netflix’s significant strides in the world of cinema last year. Despite leading the nominations count, they managed to take home just one win – for Wes Anderson’s enchanting short film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.” However, the streamer is eagerly anticipating its first-ever Best Picture award. The beacon of hope is “Emilia Pérez,” a predominantly Spanish-language production set in Mexico, which has garnered an impressive 13 nominations this year.

As a passionate cinephile, I’m thrilled to share that a groundbreaking film caught my attention recently. This movie tells the extraordinary story of a Mexican drug cartel leader embarking on a transformative journey – transitioning genders. This film made history at the Oscars when its star, Karla Sofia Gascón, became the first openly transgender woman to be nominated in an acting category. What a momentous step forward for representation and diversity in Hollywood!

2021’s Best Picture nominees lean more towards independent and art-oriented films. Despite a significant number of major studio blockbusters being released last year, only two – “Universal Pictures’ Wicked” and “Warner Bros. Pictures’ Dune: Part Two” – made it to the list. Films like “Conclave”, “The Substance”, and “A Complete Unknown” were financially successful, but on a much smaller scale compared to typical studio productions.

This year, it was primarily the smaller divisions within the big production companies – such as Focus Features and Searchlight – that received recognition with awards.

In summary, the top film contenders for Best Picture this year generated a combined $877 million domestically and $1.7 billion worldwide, but this figure represents a 37% decrease compared to the total earnings of last year’s Best Picture nominees.

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2025-01-23 21:31

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