The most newsworthy element of today’s Academy Award nominations was that these Oscars will be the most irrelevant in the modern era.

Need proof? Quick: Which film are you pulling for to win Best Picture?

As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we’re going to see which businesses caught a nasty bout of COVID-19. In the case of the movies, the virus may prove fatal.

Certainly, theatrical moviegoing officially joined the Endangered Species list Monday: Note that not one nominated film was offered to the public in 2020. Instead, all are available through on-demand or streaming services.

That was a quick war. Only a couple years ago, streamers like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu fought over scraps in the Best Picture race, and no streaming film had ever won the top prize. Now, they are the top dogs.

And say what you will about snubs and surprises this year. The biggest stunner was the Best Picture dismissal of Tenet, the time-bending Christopher Nolan thriller of summer that was Hollywood’s only real attempt at getting butts in theater seats. Not only did the quarter-billion film struggle to make $50 million in the U.S., but the Academy shunned it as the year’s only avatar for old school film viewing: on a 20-foot screen and at a quarter a kernel.

Which makes this year’s show kind of meaningless. The Oscars have always been Hollywood’s final backslap of the year, and that self-congratulations won’t stop because of a silly thing like a pandemic.

But if you had no investment in going to the movies, how many people are going to want a show that serves as a tribute to that very act?

The pandemic has tested, again and again, what we can live without. The Oscars — and the struggling industry they represent — must pull a hero’s escape to prevent this Academy Awards show from turning into a closing credit.

To be continued…