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Well, that changed everything.

In 2019, Netflix scored its first Oscar nomination for best picture. A year later, the streaming service is leading the field in total nominations.

Movies released by Netflix earned 24 nominations this year, nearly doubling its all-time total. Leading the way for the company this year are The Irishman and Marriage Story, which earned 10 and 6 nominations, respectively—including best picture nods for both. As Netflix’s impact on the world of cinema becomes increasingly undeniable, the younger and more diverse film academy is no longer shunning the streaming service as the old Hollywood guard tried to do.

In addition to its two best picture nominations, the haul from Netflix, which released its first feature in 2015, reached virtually every category, from acting (where it received seven nominations) to writing to visual effects.

Netflix’s 24 nominations were two more than Disney’s total, even when combining all of the nominations earned by Disney’s various studios into a single number. (Disney’s empire now includes 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight.)

Netflix
24 nominations
Disney
22
Sony
20
Universal
13
Warner Bros.
12

 

Counting its two best picture nominations, the haul from Netflix, which released its first feature in 2015, reached virtually every category, from acting (where it received seven nominations) to writing to visual effects.

Netflix’s 24 nominations were two more than Disney’s total, even when combining all of the nominations earned by Disney’s various studios into a single number. (Disney’s empire now includes 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight.)

Threatened by the implications of Netflix’s arrival on the film scene, the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—the industry professionals who vote on the Oscars—had resisted awarding the streaming service with nominations. Hollywood has not been pleased with Netflix’s decision to release most of its films to subscribers online the same day that they’re put in theaters, which challenges the century-old relationship between distributors and theater owners. Nor are they happy with the small number of theaters that Netflix does allow its movies to be screened in.

But now voters are clearly warming to the idea of internet flicks, and we are entering the third age of television; streaming.
Though film viewers might not be in movie theaters, more people are seeing these films than if they were given a traditional theatrical release. Director Martin Scorsese—as Hollywood as Hollywood gets—said that he wouldn’t have been able to make The Irishman with a traditional studio. The major studios were unwilling to take on the financial risk of the three-hour mob drama, the director said. The deep-pocketed Netflix, however, was more than game, since it didn’t have box office receipts to worry about.

Netflix has used those deep pockets to launch historically expensive Oscar campaigns, hoping to woo voters the old-school way, with lavish parties and elaborate advertisements. The result has been an annual increase in Oscar nominations for the streaming service:

Helping Netflix’s case is a voting pool that has grown more diverse in recent years, in reaction to controversies like #OscarsSoWhite. In 2016, after the second consecutive year of an all-white slate of acting nominees, the academy made a much-publicized effort to invite more women and minority members. These new members, many of whom hail from outside the United States, are probably Netflix users themselves and can understand the appeal of releasing a film to everyone in the world at the same time.

While it may have helped Netflix ingratiate itself among the Hollywood elite, the change in membership hasn’t adequately addressed the actual problem it was meant to correct. The acting nominations this year were still blatantly homogeneous. Nineteen of the 20 nominees were white. The only black nominee, Cynthia Erivo, was nominated for portraying the former slave and abolitionist, Harriet Tubman. As usual, all five directing nominees were men.

That’s another area where Netflix can help the industry improve. The service has championed Oscar-worthy films directed by diverse filmmakers or ones featuring diverse casts, like 2017’s Mudbound and this year’s dramedy, Dolemite Is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy. Dolemite Is My Name was not nominated for any Oscars, even though its costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, became the first black designer to win an Oscar in history last year.

Netflix’s record nominations total is only going to convince even more talented filmmakers that the streaming service is a smart place to take their films. A world in which a majority of nominated films are distributed by Netflix and other streaming services may not be so far off.

Why Studios Should Be Terrified of ‘El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie’

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Breaking Bad has always kept fans on edge with black humor, inescapable pickles and miraculous getaways.  But with the premiere this month of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, it’s theaters and studios that may be nervous.

Camino reached nearly 8.2 million viewers its opening weekend, according to data from the ratings company Nielsen. The firm’s SVOD Content Ratings service — a new metric for Nielsen — also found the film drew an average minute audience of 6.5 million, with 2.6 million of that coming on its October 11 opening day. Not bad for a show that has been off the air for six years.

But look closer, and you’ll see storm clouds forming in the data. Consider these comparisons with movies that opened in theaters this year:

  • The debut was one of the year’s biggest. The average cost of a movie ticket in America is $9.01, according to Box Office Mojo. That means that, had Camino opened in theaters and performed comparably, it would have secured an opening weekend of $73.8 million or $58.5 million, depending on whether you’re measuring those who briefly tuned into the film or those who watched all the way through. Either way, Camino would have scored the ninth- or the 11th-biggest debut of 2019.
  • The numbers are likely conservative. As Nielsen measures the number of households watching, not the individuals as standard exhibitors measure, the opening was almost certainly larger.
  • Streaming is being taken more seriously. For years, Netflix refused to release viewership data. But in October 2017, Nielsen announced its Streaming Video On Demand (SVOD) Content Ratings system, making Netflix’s marquis shows measurable. As new competitors enter the streaming fray, Nielsen will be pressured to monitor more services — and their products.

Streamers like Netflix and Amazon have had their share of hits, from Birdbox to Stranger Things to Fleabag. But the companies’ larger strategy is not just about securing hits. The larger target is moviegoing as a whole, and the cinematic landscape is shifting beneath theater owners’ feet. Traditionally, exhibitors have had three months to collect ticket revenues before movies made their way to video.

Now that three month window could be shutting fast. Netflix’s Oscar-hopeful entry this year will be Martin Scorsese’s crime saga The Irishman. Typically, the $169 million film starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, would have had run of the theaters through the holiday season. This year, however, it will have only a 27-day theatrical run until it hits TV sets.Image result for the irishman

And if Irishman scores Netflix its first Best Picture Oscar, look for other streaming services to follow suit. Already, Disney+ is heavily advertising its new show to kickoff the service, The Mandalorian, a live-action Star Wars series. Disney and Apple are expected to compete fiercely with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other streamers; could original content movies be far behind? Disney+, in particular, will face consumer and corporate pressure to bring more of its properties, from Marvel to Pixar studios, to the on-demand stage.

Already, studios are facing an ugly theatrical truth: audiences don’t mind looking at small screens. From users of smartphones to tablets to laptops to work computers, U.S. viewers seem less and less concerned with the theatrical experience writ small. Already, major studios Warner Bros. and Universal are both said to be considering early video-on-demand releases in 2019 – something that won’t sit very well with theaters.

Directing heavyweights including Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan have decried the small-screen experience, and refused to embrace most streaming services. But the Academy Board of Governors has ruled streaming films are viable for Oscar contention, and the defection of filmmakers like Scorsese, David Fincher and others have forced studio chiefs to admit they find themselves on the cinematic tightrope.Image result for steven spielberg and christopher nolan

“Consumers are loving the on-demand world,” Toby Emmerich, president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter. “The challenge is how to motivate people to commit their time and energy to go to a movie that starts when the movie theater says it does. A movie has to be an event, or it has to be breathtakingly good. There’s never been a smaller margin of error.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkdjMxTdrU8

 

How Much is that Picture in the Window?

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You can tell fall is just around the corner, because the war between Netflix and theater chains has heated up once more.

Last year, the streaming giant took on big studios and exhibitors with its Oscar-winning drama, Roma. This year, they’ve upped the ante with Martin Scorsese’s mob drama The Irishman. The $169 million film will make its world premiere Sept. 27 at the New York Film Festival, where it’s the opening night film. Image result for roma

A month later, it will air on Netflix after talks between the company and major theater chains, including AMC and Cineplex, broke down. For weeks, there had been speculation the Oscar-hungry Netflix would further soften its stance regarding theatrical windows, but it couldn’t reach a compromise with the largest theatrical chains. Instead, The Irishman will open Nov. 1 in select independent cinemas willing to carry the film, thus giving Netflix the right to run for a Best Picture Academy Award. It will debut on Netflix Nov. 27.

Netflix used the same tactic to qualify Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma for Oscar contention. While that film won Cuarón a Best Director statue, Roma did not capture Best Picture. It did, however, spark a high-profile reaction from some of Hollywood’s top directors, including Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, who argued Netflix should be limited to Emmy competition. But an Academy Board of Governor’s vote earlier this year rejected the rule change, opening the door for the streaming service to continue its Oscar strategy.Image result for spielberg nolan

Last year, Netflix acknowledged the value of the theatrical experience when announcing that Roma and other Oscar hopefuls would play exclusively in cinemas for two to three weeks before being made available to its subscribers. But that wasn’t enough to appease all Oscar voters — or theater chains, which insist on a 90-day window between the time a title opens and is released on home entertainment.

When Roma lost the best picture race, some cited the lack of box office grosses for the snub. After picking up The Irishman when Paramount passed, top Netflix executives and Scorsese himself immediately began a dialogue with theaters to see what could be done for the film, which stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel.

Some thought Scorsese had the clout to broker a peace: He’s been nominated for a Best Director Oscar eight times, more than any other living director. He’s also a powerhouse at the box office; his hits include The Wolf of Wall Street, which grossed nearly $400 million globally, and the Oscar-winning The Departed ($291 million). But no deal could be reached.

Based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, The Irishman tells the deathbed story of a mob hit man who claimed to have had a role in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.Image result for the irishman

Earlier this summer, sources say Netflix offered up a 30-day theatrical window before talks crumbled. While Netflix’s minor expansion of its theatrical window this year suggests it’s willing to inch closer to traditional business models for certain films with awards prospects (Roma‘s exclusive theatrical window was 23 days), that window remains far shorter than exhibitors and studios want.

Netflix is hardly alone in questioning the validity of the traditional 90-day theatrical window, considering that most films earn the majority of their gross in the first 45 days. And with the rise of other streaming services such as Disney+, the debate will undoubtedly grow louder.

In the meantime, without the support of a chain like AMC, Netflix will be relegated to playing its titles in indie cinemas such as the Landmark and Laemmle. (Netflix either rents the locations, known as “four walling,” or pays generous terms.)

Scorsese shot the movie on both film and digital and is relying on Industrial Light & Magic to de-age his principal cast for flashback sequences. The Irishman will play first in cinemas in New York and Los Angeles before expanding into additional markets in the U.S. and the U.K. on Nov. 8. It will further expand on Nov. 15 and Nov. 22, according to Netflix.