This week we met the nominees for the 2022 Oscar Awards. And, with the pandemic again through, the streaming platforms became the dominant studios, at least quantitatively. It remains to be seen if these nominations are also transferred qualitatively also in the form of statuettes, something that did not happen last year.
The COVID-19 pandemic already caused the Academy to change its rules last year so as not to literally run out of films to award due to the closing of the theaters. Until that edition, every film that opted to be nominated had to have been on display for at least one week in theaters in the city of Los Angeles. Due to the pandemic shutdown, that limitation was removed, something that has lasted until at least this year.
However, although the relationship between theaters and platforms is becoming more and more hybrid (with Netflix releasing its most powerful dishes in theaters or Disney playing with the windows between cinemas and Disney Plus), the edition of the Oscars in 2022 consolidates what we have already seen, but also raises doubts for the future, when the studios have the rooms fully open again (or so we all hope).
Netflix sweeps again, but less
Let’s go to the numbers and the great protagonists. The big headlines are that the power of the dogNetflix’s leads with 12 nominations and Apple bursts onto the scene with six nominations, including one for best picture for CODA.
In total Netflix dominates the scene with 27 nominations, the majority thanks also to don’t look up heavier than last year. They are less than in 2021, when in total there were 36 nominations that, yes, ended up being only 6 statuettes, all of them minor.
Along with the red giant, Disney appears with up to 24 of its nominated premieres – uniting everything inherited from FOX – although if we take into account its direct premieres in Disney Plusonly Charm Y Luca with 4 it represents you in the streaming branch.
Date of high in Disney Plus now and save thanks to the annual subscriptionwith which you can enjoy its entire catalog of series and movies, access to the latest releasesto the catalog of Star and to the best National Geographic documentaries.
Warner doubles its nominations compared to last year, all of which can be awarded this year. hbo max due to its decision to release simultaneously in theaters and its platform. amazonfor its part, falls from 12 to 4. But, yes, if its acquisition of MGM materializes, it would add 8 more.
The evolution to get here
Netflix has been gaining ground in the Oscar race as it has increased its investment in original films and also in promotion.
In 2017, Amazon Studios became the first streaming platform to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture for Manchester by the sea. The three statuettes earned by the film were the first ever won by a streaming service in narrative categories.
Since then Netflix has been the protagonist by volume. In 2019, led by Rome, had 15 nominations. In 2020, led by The Irishman and story of a marriagerecorded 24. Last year, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Mank, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and other premieres accumulated, as we said, a total of 36 nominations, which was the great leap in the streaming era: Netflix achieved the third highest number achieved by a studio in Oscar nominations.
Due to the pandemic and also the drastic changes in the industry landscape, pure streaming distributors were not the only ones to adopt digital distribution in 2021. All the big studios opted for hybrid models, from Disney to Warner Bros. put all your 2021 schedule on hbo max the same time it hit theaters, including duneswhich earned 10 nominations.
Sign up in hbo max and you will have access to the best series and exclusive movies What TheWire, The Sopranos or Game of Thrones. It includes the entire Warner catalogue, the Cartoon Network classics and the big premieres like Matrix Y dunes.
The group of 10 nominees for the best film reflects in many ways the debate that has taken place this year within the industry. About half of the nominations – films like Belfast represent the premiere direct to theaters. But almost 50% are films that have hardly had a presence in theaters. CODA premiered in AppleTV+ at the same time as in a handful of theaters. the power of the dog It had the usual minimum Netflix tours that it does to ensure that it can attend awards that do not accept films on platforms, while it did opt for a slightly larger premiere in theaters a week in advance for don’t look up.
It may be the last year in the dichotomy streaming vs. rooms
As we mentioned, hybrid is the word that defines the premieres this year. The big question is whether it will also do so in the future. So much so that perhaps next year it will not make sense to ask this question.
It seems clear that for many studios going through theaters (when there is no risk) is the best point for a good collection, as the latest installment of Spider-man has shown. But it is also clear that with each release it is being played differently, sometimes using it as a platform subscription booster, and sometimes not.
Some of the main contenders have also had a very short exhibition period, if at all, as was the case last year with Nomadland. One of Apple’s titles with multiple nominations, Macbeth, only spent three weeks on the big screen during the vacation period. Most of the time it was off screen, despite being a co-production with A24, author of award-winning releases like lady bird or moonlit.
The market has been reordered so much by the pandemic that nothing less than a standard-bearer for movie theaters like Pixar has seen its last three releases go directly to Disney Plus.
Perhaps the only debate in the end is the one that matters: the quality of the films. Although that can’t prevent there from being tapes, like dunes that raise yes or yes the question of how much they lose as a cinematographic experience by not seeing themselves on the big screen.