In years past a hot topic around the Oscars have been about streaming movies and if they should qualify and if they are good enough for the Academy Awards. Each year saw a few more notable streaming films slide into the brackets, but it wasn’t until Netflix’s Roma that we saw a definitive change. Alfonso Cuarón’s streaming masterpiece accumulated ten Oscar nominations with three wins. This occurrence was monumental to the streaming world and a shift in Oscar history. This year will similarly see a massive shift at the Oscars since most of the movies nominated are either streaming originals or easily streamed. For the first time in history the 94th Academy Awards may be the most accessible Oscar ceremony for the public.
The Academy has nominated thirty-eight films this year and of those only twelve are not available on a streaming service, though it’s easy to find them for rent or in theaters. If you ever wanted to watch the Oscars, and the movies they nominated, this is the perfect year to get as many as you can under your belt. Here is the list of nominees and where you can watch them:
AppleTV+
CODA (Best Picture Nominee)
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Disney+
Cruella
Encanto
Free Guy (Feb 23)
Luca
Raya and the Last Dragon
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
West Side Story (March 2) (Best Picture Nominee)
HBO Max
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Nightmare Alley
Hulu
Flee
Four Good Days
Spencer
Summer of Soul (…or, when the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Netflix
Don’t Look Up (Best Picture Nominee)
The Hand of God
The Lost Daughter
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Power of the Dog (Best Picture Nominee)
Tick, tick… BOOM!
Paramount+
Ascension
Prime Video
Attica (Until 2/28)
Being the Ricardos
Coming 2 America
Movies in theaters or up for rental
Belfast (Best Picture Nominee)
Cyrano
Drive My Car (Best Picture Nominee)
Dune (Best Picture Nominee)
House of Gucci
King Richard (Best Picture Nominee)
Licorice Pizza (Best Picture Nominee)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
No Time to Die
Parallel Mothers
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Worst Person in the World
Writing with Fire
Currently half of the Best Picture nominees are not available on a streaming service; however, it would not surprise me if HBO Max puts Dune and King Richard back on their service sometime in March to capitalize on this moment. Other possible films to come on streaming would be Licorice Pizza, No Time to Die, and House of Gucci. Since Amazon bought MGM there is a possibility that they could get these nominees on their streaming service, but this is less likely than HBO Max putting up their fare, especially with Licorice Pizza and House of Gucci still in (some) theaters.
Other than being the most accessible Oscars we’ve seen yet; this year could see an earthquake through Hollywood in terms of film distribution. The pandemic has caused many to speculate about the future of theaters as it has already affected the home release window. What was once ninety-days for a film to hit home media from its theatrical window is now forty-five or same day as theaters. Renting a movie digitally could be $20-30 in its initial weeks. Movies expected to make money during the pandemic haven’t and others that studios were dubious about surprised them. Then you had Warner Bros. controversial decision to have day-and-date releases with HBO Max. Because streaming services don’t give out their viewing numbers it’s hard to say if their strategy affected the box office as much as people say day-and-date does, but because they were available on streaming, I do believe it had more eyes on it than it otherwise would have. The winds of change have started to rustle the leaves and depending on what happens at the Oscars it could very well knock down that tree.
The nominees include eleven originals and one exclusive. It’s safe to say that more than one of these nominees will get awards which will bustle producers in seeing streaming services as worthy distributors. The budget range of these movies this Oscar season is about 30 million to 79 million. With big tentpoles like Spider-Man: No Way Home costing hundreds of millions of dollars you would assume it would be easier for these mid-budget films to earn at least their money back. However, once again the pandemic has shown studios what people want to see. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage did well in theaters while The Last Duel (a film that would normally have gotten Oscar buzz), The King’s Man, and The Matrix Resurrections didn’t even earn their budget back. Ghostbusters: Afterlife barely made money and that was last season’s most nostalgic advertised product. Now that the streaming wormhole has opened there’s no going back. Audiences are selective and will continue to be even after the world is a safer place. Studios will then need to decide how much money they want to gamble in theatrical distribution. For now, it seems big budget franchises are still a safe way to go while mid-budget films that would have done okay in theaters pre-pandemic have plummeted expectations.
I believe the 94th Academy Awards will show many streaming movies winning awards. I also believe that more people will talk about these movies around Oscar time because they’re so widely available to the masses. Depending on the end result, this Oscar season could rewrite film distribution from now on and studios are paying attention to it far more this year than any previous. It won’t set a new policy in cement, but I can’t help but worry that this will be a significant start to a whole new direction for film. Whether that means mid-budget movies will barely get a theatrical release, or studios pull back on the millions of dollars they pour into their franchises when they expect a billion back, something significant is going to be affected and the ‘legitimacy’ that the Academy Awards bring to film conversations will be the tipping point for the future.
Originally published on The Streaming Librarian.
Film Assist 
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