Oscar nominations: All the fun facts

LOS ANGELES, United States — The nominations for the 91st Oscars were announced Tuesday, with "Roma" and "The Favourite" leading the pack.

But the statistical quirks that the annual event throws up can be as intriguing as tracking which movies get the most nods.

Here are some fun facts and figures from this year's list of nominees:


Netflix's big step forward

Streaming giant Netflix took a major step forward in its quest to be both a distribution king and a purveyor of quality original content with 14 Oscar nominations, including its first for best picture for "Roma."

"Roma" earned 10 nods, while "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" -- the latest from Joel and Ethan Coen -- scored three. The last Netflix nomination went to "End Game," which is up for best documentary short subject.


Netflix claimed a 15th nomination for another documentary short, "Period: End of Sentence," but it was not listed as a Netflix production in the Academy's press kit.

In 2018, the company earned eight nominations, half of them for "Mudbound." In the years before, Netflix had just a handful of nominations, all in documentary categories.

By comparison, Amazon Studios -- which had already broken through in the best picture category in 2017 with "Manchester by the Sea" -- earned three nominations for steamy Polish love story "Cold War."

"We are honored to receive our first Best Picture nomination and so many other firsts this morning," said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

Wakanda forever

For many moviegoers, the Oscars have become somewhat elitist, often rewarding arthouse fare that not many have seen. But those fans cannot complain this year.

Marvel superhero blockbuster "Black Panther" -- the highest-grossing film of 2018 in North America -- scored seven nominations including one for best picture, becoming the first movie based on a comic book to earn the honor.

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, who stars in the film, posted footage on Twitter of the cast celebrating when excerpts from the film premiered at San Diego Comic-Con.

"Seven #OscarNoms for #BlackPanther, including best picture!! This is our reaction the first time we saw footage from the film and we're feeling this way all over again today! Thank you @TheAcademy! #WakandaForever," she wrote on Twitter.

Beyond its best picture nomination, "Black Panther" earned nods for costume design, original score, original song (rapper Kendrick Lamar is a nominee in that category), production design, and sound mixing and editing.

Cuaron reigns supreme

Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma," a black-and-white cinematic ode to his childhood in 1970s Mexico City -- and the mother and nanny who raised him -- earned a whopping 10 nominations to lead the contenders.

But the Mexican filmmaker himself scored an impressive feat -- four of those nominations are his: for best picture as a producer, best director, best original screenplay and best cinematography.

He joins illustrious company with his achievement: Warren Beatty did the same, scoring four nominations in four different categories -- twice -- for "Heaven Can Wait" and "Reds."

Joel and Ethan Coen did it for "No Country for Old Men."

Snubs and surprises

Industry watchers were shocked that Bradley Cooper was snubbed in the best director category for "A Star Is Born" -- but earned three nominations for best actor, best adapted screenplay and best picture (as a producer).

They were thrilled to see Spike Lee earn his first directing nomination for "BlacKkKlansman." It was his fifth overall -- counting two others for the same film. The US filmmaker earned a lifetime achievement award at the 2016 Oscars.

Another major name left off the list was Timothee Chalamet, who had been seen as a likely contender for best supporting actor for his portrayal of a drug addict in "Beautiful Boy."

And many expected "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" -- a critically acclaimed documentary about US children's show host Mister Rogers -- to make the cut. It did not.

A happy surprise was a best actress nomination for breakout "Roma" star Yalitza Aparicio in her debut performance.

For Oscars watcher Sasha Stone, the new voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "really did show up and vote in ways we've not really seen in the Oscar race, just not in ways we thought they might...surprised. A little weirded out."

source: philstar.com

Could ‘American Sniper’ sneak up in two-horse Oscar race?

LOS ANGELES | With only a week to go before the Oscars, the all-important Best Picture prize appears locked in a two-horse race between dark comedy “Birdman” and coming-of-age drama “Boyhood.”

But as Hollywood counts down the days to next Sunday’s show, some are suggesting that controversial blockbuster “American Sniper” could yet surprise, and best the two indie films.

“‘Boyhood’ and ‘Birdman’ are the frontrunners, and ‘American Sniper’ is the dark horse,” Matthew Belloni, executive editor of industry journal The Hollywood Reporter, told AFP.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘American Sniper’ had a last-minute surge, because of how well it’s doing at the box office,” he added, referring to the movie’s $365 million-plus global box office haul so far.

The Academy Awards have traditionally favored more independent, art-house fare for Best Picture, handed out at the climax of Hollywood’s annual December-to-February awards season.

WASHED-UP SUPERHERO STAR

“Birdman” — about a washed-up superhero film star battling to revive his career on the stage — is definitely more along its usual lines, as is “Boyhood,” which took 12 years to make as the actors aged in real time.

Both have fared well in pre-Oscars shows, with “Boyhood” taking the Golden Globes’ best film, while “Birdman’ won a string of awards including top prizes at the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America.

But Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” has unexpectedly stirred up the race, grabbing headlines both for its massive box office success and a row over its portrayal an Iraq war warrior.

Filmmaker Michael Moore claimed it hero-worships former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, while Tea Party firebrand and former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said leftists were “not fit to shine Chris Kyle’s combat boots.”

The question is, how many of the 6,000-odd voting members of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the industry’s elite body, will be swayed at this late stage?

They began casting ballots on February 6, and voting closes on Tuesday at 5:00 pm (0100 GMT Monday) — after which only two PriceWaterhouse Coopers staff will know the results before the envelopes are opened on stage next Sunday.

While the Best Picture race is too close to call, several of the other key categories are seen as much easier to predict.

Julianne Moore is almost universally expected to win best actress for playing a professor suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease in “Still Alice.”

Patricia Arquette is the favorite for best supporting actress as the mother in “Boyhood.”

Best actor is between “Birdman” star Michael Keaton and Britain’s Eddie Redmayne as astrophysicist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” while J.K. Simmons is tipped for supporting actor for jazz drama “Whiplash.”

Belloni said his personal forecast for best director is Mexico’s Alejandro Inarritu for “Birdman” — with the best picture going to “Boyhood.”

“So the Academy will split… much like it did last year,” he said, referring to “12 Years a Slave” taking the best film prize in 2014, while “Gravity” helmer Alfonso Cuaron — also Mexican — took best director.

ALL-WHITE NOMINEES

Talking of “12 Years a Slave,” there was uproar last month when Oscar nominations were announced, over the fact that every single one of the 20 acting nominees are white.

While Martin Luther King Jr movie “Selma” is among the eight Best Picture nominees, eyebrows were raised that neither its British star David Oyelowo nor director Ava DuVernay were shortlisted individually.

“The real snub here is that David Oyelowo… I think a lot of people were surprised that he did not get a nomination for that,” said Belloni.

More broadly, he said, Academy members “feel bad” that only white actors were nominated this year, but added: “I think the problem goes deeper than that.

“The Academy nominates the films that are put up for contention, and other than ‘Selma’ there really weren’t films that featured minority actors in leading and hefty roles,” Belloni added.

“It goes to the kinds of movies that are getting green-lit in Hollywood, and the kinds of people who are making those decisions. Hollywood has made strides in recent years to rectify the diversity problem, but it still exists.”

source: interaksyon.com