The 2024 Oscars have come and gone and, although oppenheimer and poor things are celebrating their multiple wins, there are plenty of big names reflecting on a disappointing night about “what could have been.”
The biggest losers? Netflix and its streaming rivals, all of which were effectively excluded from the biggest movie awards ceremony of the year. In fact, with 23 awards up for grabs at the glitzy Los Angeles event, some of the world's best streaming services would have hoped to snag something to demonstrate their efforts over the past 12 months.
As you probably noticed in the first few paragraphs, that was not the case. In fact, Netflix was the only one to score a gong at this year's Academy Awards: the streaming giant took the trophy for Best Live Action Short Film for The wonderful story of Henry Sugar. So what went wrong for the world's top streamers at an event where, just two years earlier, Apple TV Plus seemed to signal a sea change in the industry by securing a historic Best Picture win for a drama film? CODA?
Wes Anderson wins his first Oscar for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar! pic.twitter.com/sNhIR1UkIuMarch 11, 2024
Ironically, I don't think Netflix, Apple or any other company that has its feet in the streaming market did nothing bad. All of the films nominated for this year's prestigious event were worthy of recognition. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been picked to potentially win that night.
And yet, particularly when it came to Netflix and Apple TV Plus, they failed to compete with their big screen rivals. just look oppenheimer (streaming on Peacock), author Christopher Nolan's latest, expensive epic. It took home seven awards that night, including the coveted awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr). look where oppenheimer Make our list of the best Christopher Nolan movies while you're here.
But I digress. Compared to Nolan's last big-budget offering, the billion-dollar behemoth that starred Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Barbie (now available on Max), the quirky film directed by Emma Stone poor things (watch it on Hulu and Disney Plus) and the heartbreaking setting of World War II The area of interestNetflix and company simply couldn't put up a decent fight.
Killers of the Flower Moon will join the legion of films like 12 Angry Men, Shawshank Redemption, Seven Samurai, Singin in the Rain and more that never won Oscars but are a fundamental part of cinema history. Lily, someday you will win an Oscar because you are one of the best.March 11, 2024
It's not for lack of trying, mind you. Netflix released some really good movies this year, some of which rank high in our guide to the best Netflix movies. Animated fantasy comedy nimonasports biopic NYADand a spooky survival drama snow society All were acclaimed by fans and critics alike upon release. Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper Teacher, which critics loved but audiences disappointed, had the best chance to win one of the most prestigious Oscars yesterday (March 10), but came away with nothing. In fact, Netflix's success rate that night was a paltry 6%, and the streaming titan won just that aforementioned lone award, despite 16 nominations.
Netflix wasn't the only streamer to fail to win the votes needed to land an Academy Award. Well, Flower Moon Killers and Napoleon – two of the best movies on Apple TV Plus – debuted in theaters before joining Apple's streaming movie library. However, given their disappointing box office results, it seems that audiences waited for the arrival of Apple TV Plus before watching them. As such, I view them (rightly or wrongly) as streaming shows rather than big-screen offerings. Keep that in mind along with the fact that they were nominated for multiple awards (Flower Moon Killers was nominated 10 times; Napoleon 3), Apple TV Plus was as successful as Netflix on the awards front.
Only 3 films won multiple #Oscars this year:• 'Oppenheimer' – 7• 'Poor Things' – 4• 'The Zone of Interest' – 2See the full list of winners: pic.twitter.com/P1XmJEuYTEMarch 11, 2024
Even without people like oppenheimer However, on the ballot, I firmly believe that Netflix, Apple TV Plus, and other streaming services would have struggled that night. Industry observers have routinely opined that the movie-going experience has not recovered since that pandemic, and that's even with highly anticipated new movies opening in theaters around the world. However, in my opinion, the successful Barbenheimer film event, which grossed almost $2 billion collectively by mid-2023, proved that things are returning to normal.
Still, Netflix and company would have been hard-pressed to win more than a couple of trophies at last night's ceremony, let alone dominate it. Sans seven times winner oppenheimer, this year's list of nominees was the strongest field of contenders I can remember in a long time. Just look at some of the other big names who were also in the running for this year's top awards: The remains. Past Lives. Anatomy of a fall. American fiction. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Godzilla: minus one. Mission Impossible 7. Any other year, this contingent (and other non-Netflix and non-Apple movies that I've mentioned throughout this article) would have taken one or more gongs. So there's no guarantee that the world's biggest streamers would have upset the odds.
So why were Netflix and its streaming peers excluded from this year's Oscars? The answer is simple: competition, oppenheimer or not, it was simply too strong. There will come a time when Netflix or someone else springs another surprise (like CODA did) and win Best Picture, but it wasn't this year, and if the field of nominees is equally strong next year this time, I don't see that happening then either.
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