The 2023 movie awards season is coming to an eventful close and the Oscars are just around the corner. Barbie and Oppenheimer are the two films to look out for at this year’s Oscars. According to Entertainment Weekly, these two films have “roughly $2.4 billion in combined worldwide ticket sales” and share a total of twenty-one Oscar nominations.
These films made incredible waves in the industry, but, there are many shocking nominations and lack thereof that are causing discourse. An example is that Greta Gerwig did not get a nomination for best director. Since Barbie was one of the highest grossing films this past year, many speculated that Gerwig would be nominated along with Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer. However, that did not end up being the case. But Barbie does have many other nominations such as Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling) and Actress (America Ferrera). Oppenheimer has been nominated for a plethora of awards and is considered a front runner for best picture.
Besides “Barbenheimer,”the Best Picture award contenders include: Poor Things, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Maestro, Past Lives. The Zone of Interest, and Killers of the Flower Moon. A full list of nominations was published by The Hollywood Reporter, which also notes the creatives who set records this awards season. Martin Scorsese has received more nominations than any other living director and Lily Gladstone is the first Native American to receive an acting nomination, both for their work on Killers of the Flower Moon.
Professor of Communications Jonathan Lupo said, “I think Oppenheimer is going to have a great Oscar night, including picture, director, actor, supporting actor, and multiple technical awards. It hits all the right Oscar buttons: it’s historical and serious, and created by a director who is beloved critically by Hollywood. Despite the expected success of Oppenheimer, the Oscars are likely to spread the wealth in other categories from best song (Barbie) to supporting actress (The Holdovers). Finally, films like Anatomy of a Fall, American Fiction, and Poor Things are poised to win creative awards and might just upset Oppenheimer in some of the more prominent categories.”
Many different technical elements go into making a film, and while Oppenheimer and Barbie are the most discussed, other films might still shake the foundations in terms of technical prowess.
Films like Anatomy of a Fall and The Holdovers both received nominations for best actress and best supporting actress. Professor Lupo added, “For me, the most exciting category is Best Actress. All are terrific but my pick of who should win is Sandra Huller in Anatomy of a Fall, portraying a woman accused of killing her husband. Working in three different languages (German, English, and French), Huller delivers an all-time best performance in a highly tricky role.
“2023 was an exceptionally strong year for interesting and challenging films that were also popular, while superhero and franchise films faltered. Ideally, this could mean we’ll see more daring films like Barbie and Oppenheimer but there’s a long history of Hollywood learning the wrong lessons from success.”
It is safe to say that this year’s Oscars will be one to remember. There are many films that grabbed the attention of the general populace and no one really knows what will happen next. Make sure to clear your calendars for The 96th annual Academy Awards, which will take place on Sunday, March 10th.