Nathaniel Clark – A&E Editor

nuc5002@psu.edu 

On Tuesday, January 24, the nominations for “Hollywood’s Biggest Night” were announced. 

The Academy Awards ceremony, known as the Oscars will be presented on March 12. Set to return for hosting is late night’s Jimmy Kimmel. This will be the actor’s third time hosting, stating this to either be “a great honor or a trap.”

In recent years, the Oscars has seen a massive decline in viewership from both national and international markets. With western audiences moving away from award shows and international awards becoming more prevalent, the death of such programs has become clear. With viewership and licensing fees making up the majority of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences revenue, they needed to find a way to bring back their once massive market. Based on Monday, the Academy is attempting to accomplish this feat with some of its best nominations to date. 

Actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams revealed the nominees for the 2023 Oscars in all 23 categories. Leading the charge is the critical and commercial smash hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” with 11 nominations. “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” come close behind with nine each. It is important to mention that the former of these two is a foreign language film, making its acclaim from the Academy even more surprising. For the rest of the films leading the nominations, “Elvis” has eight, “The Fabelmans” has seven, “Tár” and “Top Gun: Maverick” has six each, and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” closes out with five. 

When looking at the Best Picture nominees of this year, it is evident that the Academy went broad and will likely prosper for it. Throughout the eleven nominations are varying budgets, audiences, and box office returns. Included in these nominees are “Top Gun” and “Avatar” which were the two most profitable films of the year, both making over 1.8 billion dollars at the box office. In contrast to these blockbusters are “Tár” and “The Fabelmans” which satisfy the more artistically-inclined crowd. 

Even with “Fabelmans” being directed by film legend Steven Spielberg, these more arthouse films have had a harder time making back their budgets post-pandemic. Nonetheless, it is amazing to see fantastic films, regardless of their backgrounds, be honored on a level such as the Oscars.

Included in the nomination discussion was the Best Animated Feature category. Rather than sticking with the average Disney pipeline, the Academy went artistic and diverse for this year. While Pixar’s “Turning Red” is nominated, the film is joined by “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” 

With the Oscars nominations being as solid as ever, we must now wait for March 12 to see if the Academy can deliver a compelling and interesting show.