Hollywood loves a reboot - now Oscars show gets its turn
Hollywood loves a reboot - now Oscars show gets its turn
(Reuters) - The biggest cliffhanger at Sunday’s Oscars may not be who wins the top prizes - or even if Netflix can finally snag a coveted best picture trophy - but how the movie industry’s biggest night reinvents itself after a tumultuous year.
Forced to rethink the ceremony because of the pandemic, and with a slate of diverse but mostly smaller films, organizers are promising a show unlike anything seen in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards. read more
Staged for the first time in a working train station in downtown Los Angeles, albeit a striking Art Deco building, Oscar producers have been vague on details of the limited in-person ceremony, which will be aired on ABC television.
But they say the tone will be optimistic and the show will act as a love letter to the battered movie industry after a year of theater closures and delays in releasing dozens of potential blockbusters.
"We are here to make a case for why cinema matters," said Stacey Sher, one of the trio of Oscars producers.
Netflix Inc’s 1930s Hollywood drama "Mank" leads nominations with 10 nods in a best picture list that includes 1960s courtroom saga "The Trial of the Chicago 7," also from Netflix. The other nominees are recession drama "Nomadland," revenge tale "Promising Young Woman," immigrant family story "Minari," civil rights biopic "Judas and the Black Messiah," dementia tale "The Father," and "Sound of Metal," about a deaf drummer.
The winners are chosen by the 9,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"This year, these movies are not well known, but oddly enough are more accessible than ever before when they are on all the streaming platforms. Nevertheless, there are lot of downer topics (and) many of them are smaller films, slower films," said Pete Hammond, chief film critic for Deadline Hollywood.
The TV audience on Sunday is expected to fall sharply, in line with other scaled-down award shows during the pandemic. Those largely virtual affairs saw viewership plummet by as much as 60%.
