Nominations for this year's Academy Awards have been announced. The list of nominees was, as usual, missing the highest-grossing titles. Yet there is also a historic change taking place that could affect the future of the movie industry.
La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, scored the most nominations. The movie directed by Damien Chazelle has a chance of winning as many as 14 Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Original Score. In addition, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are both nominated for for Best Actress and Actor in a leading role. Thus, the musical tied the record for most Oscar nominations with Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950).
Intellectually stimulating sci-fi movie, Arrival starring Amy Adams (who, however, didn't receive nomination for best actress), and Moonlight, a coming-of-age drama, both scored 8 nominations. The Academy also recognized the movie Fences, with Denzel Washington in a leading role.
What do all these movie have in common besides nominations? None of the above-mentioned productions made the list of 40 highest-grossing films. La La Land and Arrival performed well at the box office (earning $176 million and $174 million, respectively), but that gives them only the 45th and the 46th place on the list of highest grossing movies. These figures are far behind such hits as Captain America: Civil War ($1.1 billion) or Finding Dory ($1 billion).
This is nothing new. In the 21st century only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) was able to be both a big award winner and a huge box office. But why is this the case?
There are a few theories, but it is most likely due to the fact that the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a bit detached from audience's tastes and seems not to know, or not to want to know, which movies are the highest grossing productions. Another issue is that the Oscars are often times given to movies that teach values or have ideological basis, like 12 Years of Slave, and biggest box office hits are not always like that. To the Academy, artistic value is more important than money.
This year's Oscar nominations are considered to be historic for a different reason, namely, a nomination was given to a movie that wasn't produced by a film studio, but by a streaming service. Manchester by the Sea, produced by Amazon Studios (NASDAQ: AMZN), scored 4 nominations. It's a sign that streaming services will have a greater say in the future. Thanks to these nominations Amazon got ahead of its rivals, such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Hulu (NASDAQ: HULU). We'll see if, in the years to come, they'll also find themselves in the race for an Oscar.
Experts and bookmakers expect La La Land to win best picture Oscar and Damien Chazelle is thought to have the biggest chance of winning the award for best director. Emma Stone is a favorite to win best actress in a leading role award. However, when it comes to the best actor category, here Casey Affleck looks certain to win the award for his role in Manchester by The Sea.
This year's Oscars will be awarded on February 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.