() — The Oscars have always served as a celebration of movies, spending non-devotional time for the “And the Oscar is for” part to cheer up Hollywood. However, with movies in a state of uncertainty amid the shift to streaming and a global pandemic hurting theaters, Academy voters appear to be trying to strike a balance between streaming and blockbusters.
If the pre-Academy nominations hold true, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” will take the most coveted statuette. Having racked up honors from the guilds representing directors, producers, writers, actors, and publishers, its status as favorite has been cemented in its place.
If that prediction comes to pass, Oscar voters will pick a film that actually thrived at the box office, earning more than $100 million worldwide, a record for its independent distributor, A24, while still feeling small compared to the titans who have led a return to the cinema.
Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick,” one of the top-grossing movies that could help spur interest in this year’s Oscars. Credit: Paramount Pictures
At one of the aforementioned awards events, director Steven Spielberg thanked Tom Cruise for “saving” Hollywood with “Top Gun: Maverick,” the long-delayed sequel that grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide. box office. The same could be said for James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which like its predecessor topped $2 billion to become the third-highest-grossing title of all time.
Despite its relative commercial success, “Everything Everywhere”—a mind-bending journey through a multiverse of possibilities—leans toward a more intimate cinematic brand, joining films like “Nomadland” and “Moonlight” in scoring wins at the Independent Spirit Award on his march to the Oscars.
While major studio releases may win an invite to the Oscars party, despite the gratitude Spielberg articulated, that probably won’t translate to the guest of honor seat. And skepticism about honoring big movies reflects a lingering division, if not disdain, regarding the kind of fare that has dominated the box office in recent years, particularly when it comes to superheroes and sci-fi: movies perceived to be giving more importance to spectacle and experience at the expense of plot and story.
The Academy has publicly grappled with this dynamic, even flirting a few years ago with the introduction of the category of “popular film” before rejecting the idea. Such assignments were not considered necessary when collective appeal and awards frequently went hand in hand, including best picture awards for Cameron’s “Titanic,” “Gladiator” and “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.” “.
To some extent, simply nominating popular movies could help build interest in the ceremony and boost viewership ratings, a great incentive. With a worldwide gross of $2.3 billion, the “Avatar” tally is more than four times that of the eight other best picture contenders (excluding “Top Gun”) combined.
At the same time, Hollywood has embraced streaming as a viable awards option, without fully addressing the fact that movies designed to thrive on those platforms play a slightly different game.
The pandemic helped erode that resistance, as witnessed by best picture honors for Apple TV+’s “CODA” and Hulu’s “Nomadland,” both produced for roughly the same amount that “Avatar” spent on its catering budget alone. .
Even with a reduced presence at this year’s Oscars, streaming services probably won’t go away empty-handed. A pair of Netflix offerings, best picture nominee “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” are the top contenders for best international feature and animated feature, respectively.
In an analysis for Variety, awards pundit Tim Gray saw a glass-half-full stage in this year’s Oscar nominees, citing the wide variety of films, “from grand epics to intimate dramas,” noting that while many tackle dark themes, “They usually end on a note of hope. That is true for the characters, and for going to the movies in the 21st century.”
With a strong slate of theatrical releases scheduled for the spring and summer, the rebuilding process started by “Avatar,” “Top Gun” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” continues.
Yet it’s just as possible to look at the eclectic list of Oscar nominees, including numerous films that flopped when released in theaters, and conclude that the entertainment industry continues to be pulled in multiple directions, with no clear plan for what lies ahead. the future.
In that sense, the Oscars could end up proving that you can have “Everything Everywhere, At the Same Time,” but not have your cake and eat it too.
The 95th edition of the Oscars will take place on March 12 and will be televised by ABC.
