On Tuesday morning, the Academy announced its nominations for the 2023 Oscars, displaying a broadening in how it determines worthiness. Most of the nominated films had a traditional theatrical release, including Best Picture nods for AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER and TOP GUN: MAVERICK, the two highest-grossing pictures of the year.
This falls outside recent norms for the Academy, which has passed over blockbusters in favor of smaller films. This change may have been driven by woeful TV ratings for the Oscars awards show, with the past two years suffering the lowest ratings in history. Many argue that TV viewers have lost interest because of the Academy’s focus on independent, art-house films that the general public has not seen, or even heard of.
EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE received the greatest number of nominations at 11, and is considered by many to be the front runner for Best Picture. EVERYWHERE may have struck the perfect note by being a solid earner at the box office, grossing more than $100M worldwide, and receiving praise from critics, appearing on most year-end top ten lists.
As always, there were a few surprises, especially in the Best Actress category. Andrea Riseborough received a nomination for her role in TO, LESLIE, a film that earned $27,000 at the box office while Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler were left off the list, despite their high-profile performances in THE WOMAN KING and TILL.
With Jimmy Kimmel hosting for the third time, the show appears on target to have a bounce back in the ratings, which will be important for its long-term survival.