Oscar Chart Updates: The Screenplays

by Nathaniel R

After Visual Effects and Makeup and Animated and Documentary Features let's turn out attention to the written word seeking Oscar approval. The critics awards for Best Screenplays are never very telling because many film critic organizations lump Adapted and Originals together. The only films in the Oscar race that have already won Best Screenplay prizes this year (at this writing) are the originals Promising Young Woman (LAFCA) and Never Rarely Sometimes Always (NYFCC and CFCA) and the adaptation that feels like an original i'm thinking of ending things (BSFC, FFCC, and IFJA). (The various screenplay winners from Cannes, Venice, Sundance and Berlinale are not eligible at the Oscars this year.) That's a long way of saying that we have very little to go on in the Oscar race...

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Oscar Chart Updates: Visual Effects and Makeup

by Nathaniel R

Oscar chart overhaul is upon us. Let's talk two categories that are exceptionally difficult to read without the usual supply of blockbuster style filmmaking to dominate them.

VISUAL EFFECTS
Given that most of the blockbuster style films moved out of 2020 (without those theatrical billions to win), this might be the weirdest Oscar race of the year or the dullest if they don't nominate well...

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Oscar Chart Updates: Animated & Documentary Feature

by Nathaniel R

The Oscar charts overhaul is upon us. Let's discuss each category. First up a two-fer, Animated Feature and Documentary Feature. In both instances we don't have full eligibility lists yet but we know some of the titles that have qualified or will qualify.

ANIMATED FEATURE
We currently know of 15 features that are eligible or that plan to be. Since the threshold is only 16 films to create a full five-wide nominee field, we've decided to change our previous three-only prediction. (We'd love those odds if we were animated producers. It's so crazy easy to get nominated, statistically speaking, unlike other categories where hundreds of competitors vie for 5 slots. As we've said multiple times if the same percentage rules applied to Best Picture each year we'd have like 80-90 Best Picture nominees each year. Teehee.)

The contest is shaping up to be a battle royale between Pixar's Christmas entry Soul and the wondrously individualistic Cartoon Saloon's Wolfwalkers...

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Pt 2 - Looking at Netflix's contenders in all Oscar categories

by Juan Carlos Ojano

As explained in Part One we're looking at Netflix's deep slate this year and pinpointing how they might be competitive in each of the 23 Oscar categories (it used to be 24 categories but Sound Editing and Sound Mixing have now become one category). In part two, which follows after the jump, we're discussing the "big eight" marquee categories, plus animated feature...

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Pt 1 - Sizing up Netflix's contenders in all 23 Oscar categories

by Juan Carlos Ojano

It is already November and the pandemic rages on.  With moviegoing risky or unavailable movielovers have turned to streamers for their film consumption. The Academy has even acknowledged this shift in how we consume films by allowing films to qualify for the Oscars even if they only went streaming.  While the past few years have seen the rise of streaming wars (Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV+, and Disney+, etcetera), nobody has been able to match the sheer quantity of content that Netflix has been producing or acquiring. Netflix could well dominate this awards season. But by how much?

Important Caveat: Do note that Netflix has not announced the entirety of its slate through February 28, 2021, the final day of eligibility for this Oscars; pieces are still moving and more films will probably show up. With that, here are Netflix’s contenders in all 23 Oscar categories...

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