It’s time to once again celebrate Hollywood’s greatest ambitions and boldest risk-takers.
Non, I am not referring to “Jackass Forever.”
Nominations for the 94th Annual Academy Awards are due Tuesday morning. The announcement of nominations is a little earlier than usual. The Oscars will be held March 27, to make way for the Olympics.
For the second consecutive year, the Oscars will be held during the pandemic. The “awards season” is a series of galas, parties and little gold statuettes that has become known as the “industrial complex”, which has been largely virtualized, taking away some of its buzz. The Oscars’ traditional opening act, the Golden Globes were significantly reduced and not televised this year.
The Oscar nominations will be announced Tuesday at 8:18 AM EST by Leslie Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross. They will attempt to regain the spotlight after a year that has seen significant changes in the industry and an ongoing recovery for movie theatres. The Oscar.com, Oscars.org and academy social media accounts will broadcast the nominations live.
These are not the only problems facing the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Last year’s Oscars, held in late April at an audience-less Union Station rather than the Oscars’ usual home, the Dolby Theatre, plummeted to an unprecedented 9.85 million viewers
Can Tuesday’s nominees stop the tide? Denis Villeneuve’s sci fi epic “Dune,” Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical coming of age tale “Belfast”, and Jane Campion’s gothic western Western “The Power of the Dog” are among the films that should do well. Unfortunately, Jackass Forever, the current number. The film that was the No. 1 at the box office will be waiting until next year.
These are the questions that will lead to nominations.
HOW MUCH WILL STREAMERS WIN?
Streaming services have been a part of the Oscars for many years, but this year they could be overwhelming the best-picture category. After the academy rules changes, 10 movies will be nominated to best picture. It’s possible that not all of them have been released in traditional theaters. Netflix is still looking for its first best picture trophy. It has three contenders in “The Power of the Dog”, Adam McKay’s apocalyptic comedy, “Don’t Look Up” as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical adaption “Tick, Tick… Boom”; Amazon has Aaron Sorkin’s film “Being the Ricardos”; and two films that were released simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters — “Dune” (led) and “King Richard” This has allowed contenders such as Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice pizza” (MGM Focus Features, Focus Features), and “Belfast” (Focus), to stand out as theater-first throwbacks.
WILL THE BIGGEST BOX OFFICE HIT CRASH THE PARTY
Some would love to see as many crowd pleasers as possible Tuesday, given the declining audience for the Oscars. Could “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which was the most successful movie of the pandemic, with $749m in domestic ticket sales and $1.77billion globally, or Daniel Craig’s 007 swan song “No Time to Die” ($774m worldwide), be nominated for best picture? Despite the fact that the Oscars could use some pop, you shouldn’t expect either of them to be nominated. , the segment most supportive of big-budget box office success — producers — declined the opportunity to be in their highly predictive guild nominees. This would make “Dune”, which is worth $399 million worldwide, the biggest-selling movie in this category. There are other metrics that can be used to determine today’s most watched movies. According to Netflix, “Don’t Look Up,” is the second most popular Netflix movie with 359,790,000 hours of viewing.
HOW INTERNATIONAL ARE THE NOMINEES?
A group of highly acclaimed international films could compete in multiple top categories two years after Bong Ho’s Korean thriller “Parasite”, which won best picture. Although “Parasite,” a film that is not in English, has received the same support as “Parasite”, Ryusuke Hamaguchi could win best picture, best director, or best screenplay. Other films that received strong support from the academy outside of the best international film category include Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers”, Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person In The World,” Penelope Cruz’s highly-competitive best actor category, Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero”, Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” and Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated “Flee”. The academy has become more international in recent years and expanded its membership to be more people overseas.
WILL KSTEW GET IN?
Kristen Stewart was once widely expected to win her first Oscar nomination for her role as Princess Diana in Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer.” The Screen Actors Guild and BAFTAs reviewed the 31-year-old actor. Although she could make a comeback with academy, best actress was brutal this year. There are many favorites, including Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”) and Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”) as well as Jennifer Hudson (“Respect”) and Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”) Cruz, Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Alana Haim (“Licorice pizza”). Stewart will not be forgotten if someone, or several peoples, does.
WILL ENOUGH PEOPLE VIEW?
This is the most important question the Oscars face this year. It hovers over all. While ratings for award shows have been falling for many years, the rise of streaming and the pandemic has helped accelerate the demise of Hollywood tradition. The academy has indicated that all options are open this year. Could Spider-Man star Tom Holland be asked to host? The academy has confirmed that there will be a host, for the first time since 2018. Perhaps Johnny Knoxville has some tricks up his sleeves?
