Are we really getting TEN movie musicals in 2021?

by Nathaniel R

In the Heights

In the recent Yes No Maybe So post I mentioned that we were getting three musicals in the space of seven months. But that was a gross understatement as I hadn't yet finished my Oscar chart research for 2021. There are actually TEN musicals... no make that eleven (!) that are supposed to arrive before Christmas. Release dates are subject to change, of course. The current schedule represents Hollywood doubling-down, no quintupling down, on audiences salivating en masse for musicals in the way they currently only do for animated fare and superhero films. (That'd be a wonderful world of course, if audiences were so inclined.)

Lin-Manuel Miranda, of Hamilton fame, is spectacularly talented but looking at this schedule we're a little worried for him. We don't want Miranda to become the next Ryan Murphy -- i.e. stretched thin, predictable, veering into being a Brand first and artist second, and offering diminishing returns. Given that Miranda is involved in more than a third of these musicals, that's a major oversaturation risk. Tell us which of these ten you're most excited about in the comments...

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Marvel Cinematic Universe - New tease and theatrical dates

by Nathaniel R

Marvel Studios released a big "back to the movies" video to celebrate the communal experience of movie-going. You get tiny slivers of their past "phases" and sneak peaks of all four films coming in 2021 except the Christmas-time Spider-Man (so we'll assume there isn't yet footage available). The most "exciting" of which for all it's 'what will this be like?' mystery is The Eternals directed by freshly double-Oscared Chloe Zhao from. We get some wide shots but no glimpses of the action except Angelina Jolie raising a sword. It will be good to have her back on the big screen where she belongs! The "tease" and release dates after the jump...

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Link grab bag from Disney strategies to new Auteur projects to Sean Young speaking out

It's been approximately 1,000 years since our last link roundup. It's always tough to keep up with news during Oscar season when more important things (shiny gold statues!) are on the mind.

• Variety Disney is shifting release strategies and dates again for Black Widow, Luca, and Cruella among others. We're disappointed that Adrian Lyne's long awaited return with erotic thriller Deep Water is now a 2022 movie (that's well over a full year since it was first supposed to come out.) 
• IndieWire meanwhile Warner Bros announces that it will end the opening simultaneously on HBOMax treatment for its new movies starting in 2022 which will play in theaters for 45 days first. (We're guessing the people behind Dune are pissed that this doesn't apply to them) since none of their deals imagined a non-theatrical world.
• Towleroad Lady Gaga has already upset the woman she's playing in Ridley Scott's Gucci biopic

More after the jump including Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Elliot Page, Steven Spielberg, and Clint Eastwood... 

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366 films eligible for Best Picture at the 93rd Oscars

It's here. The annual "reminder list" from the Oscars about what Academy members can vote for this year for Best Picture (and other categories). Of course this list does not apply to all categories as some movies have already been eliminated in the specialized categories that use bakeoffs or finalists systems or that have extra additional eligibility requirements like...

• Animated Feature (27 finalists)
• Documentary Feature (15 finalists)
• International Feature (15 finalists)
• Makeup and Hairstyling (10 finalists)
• Original Score (15 finalists)
• Original Song (15 finalists)
• Visual Effects (10 finalists)
• ...and all three Short Film categories (but feature films aren't eligible there anyway)

But if the movie is on this overall reminder list it's still eligible in any other category. A lot more notes after the jump...

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AARP "Movies for Grownups" Nominations & Winners

by Nathaniel R

George Clooney is the Career Achievement Honoree this year at the Movies for Grownups Awards

The AARP's "Movie for Grown-Ups" dont get much press. That's probably because the media in general is populated with younger people or in competition to snag as many young eyeballs as possible. But the groups nominations are interesting primarily because their very raison d'etre forces them to be different from the norm. They advocate for the 50+ crowd and fight ageism in the film industry so their nominations naturally can't be copied and pasted from other prizes. This directive frees them from the restraints that shackle a lot of critics and industry groups (who all want to predict or influence the Oscars on some level, even if they vehemently claim to be above that).

Unfortunately it doesn't free them from all the other standard awards show problems like recency bias, prizing dramas and message movies above other genres, and questionable taste. You'll see the recency bias in raging force this time, in that most of the movies they're honoring either aren't released yet or are just starting to let non-festivalgoers see them. In fact, the only pre-awards season title that receives multiple nominations is Da 5 Bloods though there are a few single nominations in specialty categories for other early birds (Emma, Bacurau, A Secret Love, Bad Boys for Life)

UPDATD 3/8 Their awards will be broadcast on March 28th on PBS but they've already announced their winners which you can see below...

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