There has been no record this year – in 2021 they achieved 35 nominations – but they have managed, to the surprise of no one considering the career it has had on the awards circuit, ‘El poder del perro’ (‘Power of the Dog ‘) be the most nominated film for the 2022 Oscars. And it’s from Netflix.
A total of twelve nominations that exceeds the figure for ‘Mank’ last year with ten nominations. This includes Best Film, Director for Jane Campionadapted screenplay, photography and lead actor for benedict cumberbatchamong others.
This year the platform had some pretty solid nominations with a total of ten different titles nominated, including ‘Don’t Look Up’, ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’, ‘It Was God’s Hand’, ‘Tick, Tick… Boom! ‘ and ‘The Dark Daughter’. Thus until completing a total of 27 nominations.
The power of the dog sweeps with twelve nominations
Since a couple of years ago Netflix decided to get serious about making movies and that these were also taken into account by the American Film Academy, there has been a lot of debate about what that represents compared to “traditional cinema”. Including critical voices like Spielberg, who saw how the streaming poses a threat to the seventh art.
However, three of the ten films nominated for the queen category are “Originals” (the broad term should be qualified) from streaming platforms —’CODA’ on Apple TV +, ‘The power of the dog’ and ‘Don’t look up’ on Netflix— it is an indication that the industry has already blessed (or at least embraced) the not-so-new models.
But not only Netflix, Amazon Studios, for example, has also spent years trying to be exalted in the mecca of cinema and, although it has not managed to sneak into the queen category for best film, ‘Being the Ricardos’ has obtained three nominations (for Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, and JK Simmons).
making nominees
Here we have a rather curious thing and it is that in certain cases —and even more so in the post-pandemic panorama of rooms that do not manage to be half full unless you are a megablockbuster—The omnipresence of Netflix, Amazon and other platforms manage to give visibility (and life) to films that, as much as they were worth seeing on the big screen, do not normally attract passers-by who pass in front of the cinemas.
To put it one way: from Sundance to December 31 of the current year there are months to spare to be able to take some powerful film from festivals, give it a decent distribution and start making noise with it, release it and have it nominated the following year. to the Oscar. This has happened, for example, with ‘CODA’, by Sian Heder or with ‘The Dark Daughter’ by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Beyond meritorious terms, traditionally at the Oscars there is a balance between quality and popularity. And in this aspect is where Netflix and company start the great marketing engine they have, starting a campaign to make noise between festivals and technical premieres and, of course, the presence on a platform that has two hundred million subscribers around the world. .