NEW YORK: The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards are being announced. Actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams are announcing the nominees in Beverly Hills, California.
The nominees for best supporting actress are -- Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Hong Chau (The Whale), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
The nominees for the best supporting actor are -- Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway), Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans), Brendan Gleeson (Banshees on Inisherin); Barry Keoghan (Banshees of Inisherin), Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
The nominees for original screenplay are -- Everything Everywhere All at Once; The Banshees of Inisherin; The Fabelmans; Tár; Triangle of Sadness.
The nominees for best original score are -- Volker Bertelmann, (All Quiet on the Western Front), Justin Hurwitz (Babylon), Carter Burwell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Son Lux, (Everything Everywhere All at Once), John Williams, (The Fabelmans).
Nominations are being announced from the academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. They are airing live on ABC's 'Good Morning America' and be live-streamed on Oscars.org, Oscars.com and on several of the academy's social media platforms.
If things go as expected, Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Elvis could all rack up somewhere between six and nine nominations. If last year's Oscars were dominated by streaming — Apple TV+'s "CODA" won best picture and Netflix landed 27 nominations — movies that drew moviegoers to multiplexes make up many of this year's top contenders.
That includes Everything Everywhere All at Once, the A24 sci-fi indie hit. Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's multiverse-skipping tale could walk away with the most nominations Tuesday, including nods for Michelle Yeoh and comeback kid Ke Huy Quan.
Also at the front of the pack is The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh's Ireland-set dark comedy, which is set to score as many as four acting nods, including nominations for Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.
Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans struggled to catch on with audiences, but the director's autobiographical coming-of-age tale is set to land Spielberg his 20th Oscar nomination and eighth nod for best director. John Williams, his longtime composer, extended his record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person. Another nod for best score will give Williams his 53rd nomination, a number that trails only Walt Disney's 59.
Many questions remain, though, like whether the love for Top Gun: Maverick will go far enough to win Tom Cruise the best actor nomination. The year's other highest-grossing blockbuster, Avatar: The Way of Water, should score well in the technical categories, though less certain is whether director James Cameron will make it into the best director field. After that category saw the first back-to-back wins for female filmmakers — Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) in 2021, and Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) last year — no women are expected to be nominated for best director.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences will surely celebrate the best picture field populated with blockbusters. Ratings for the telecast have typically been higher in years with much-watched films as favourites. Last year's awards had been looking like a comeback edition for the Oscars before "the slap" came to define the ceremony. In the aftermath, the academy banned Will Smith from attending for the next 10 years. Though he could have still been nominated, Smith's performance as a runaway slave in Emancipation didn't catch on.
Last year's broadcast drew 15.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen, up 56 per cent from the record-low audience of 10.5 million for the pandemic-marred 2021 telecast. This year, ABC is bringing back Jimmy Kimmel to host the March 12 ceremony, one that will surely be seen as a return to the site of the slap.
But larger concerns are swirling around the movie business. Last year saw flashes of triumphant resurrection for theatres, like the success of Top Gun: Maverick, after two years of the pandemic. But partially due to a less steady stream of major releases, ticket sales for the year recovered only about 70 per cent of the pre-pandemic business. Regal Cinemas, the nation's second-largest chain, announced the closure of 39 cinemas this month.
At the same time, storm clouds swept into the streaming world after years of once-seemingly boundless growth. Stocks plunged as Wall Street looked to streaming services to earn profits, not just add subscribers. A retrenchment has followed, as the industry again enters an uncertain chapter.
In stark contrast to last year's Academy Awards, this year may see no streaming titles vying for the Oscars' most sought-after award — though the last spots in the 10-movie best-picture field remain up for grabs. Netflix's best shots instead are coming in other categories, notably with animated film favourite Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio and the German submission, All Quiet on the Western Front.