There are eight more months until the Academy Awards get handed out, but studios and indie players are already deep into planning their campaigns for the films they hope will have what it takes to go the distance. There’s already a pair of populist contenders in Paramount’s blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” and A24’s metaverse action-dramedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which have cemented themselves in the best picture discussion.
The change in fortunes may help the streamer, which has faced criticism that it was essentially trying, and thus far failing, to buy itself a best picture statue. Now, Netflix finds itself as something of an underdog as it looks to launch not only the Baumbach and Iñárritu films into contention but also the Christian Bale starring vehicle, “The Pale Blue Eye” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” into contention.
And there’s a new kid on awards block with Utopia, which nabbed the Cannes hit “Holy Spider” from Iranian writer and director Ali Abbasi. Its star Zar Amir Ebrahimi won the best actress back in May, and as “Drive My Car” distributor Janus Films demonstrated last year, you don’t need millions of dollars to make a substantial impact with voters.
Its sister studio Searchlight is angling for the best position for “American Beauty” director Sam Mendes’ next venture “Empire of Light” with Olivia Colman while getting behind “Three Billboards” filmmaker Martin McDonagh for “The Banshees of Inisherin.”