Hollywood Is at a Crossroads as Commercial Movies Target Oscar Glory
Months ago, when “Top Gun: Maverick” took off at the box office, there were early murmurs of Oscar season potential. Compared to traditional fall season awards material, from “TÁR” to “Women Talking,” a giant blockbuster sequel may not have looked like the most obvious Best Picture contender. But now, it even has some company in that department, with “Avatar: The Way of Water” gaining traction in the aftermath of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” taking off. “RRR” may not be an American spectacle, but it also brings a certain blockbuster scale to the awards conversation.
None of this means that other contenders, such as “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” have zero chance at Best Picture. Hollywood loves big commercial movies and is accepting them in the awards season.
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In this week’s episode of Screen Talk, Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson discuss what this means as Hollywood is at a crossroads and less likely to greenlight vanity projects from name directors going forward as a result. They also discuss the Oscar shortlists and the surprise and dismaying films and documentaries that were left out. Screen Talk will be on hiatus next year, but they will return in 2023.
Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.
Screen Talk was produced by Azwan Bazaruzaman, and is available on Apple PodcastsMegaphone hosts Spotify, Stitcher and Stitcher. View previous installments hereSubscription here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
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