Late offerings could dominate awards
Late-in-the-year entries usually dominate the list of Oscar nominees
It’s the quintessential self-fulfilling prophecy: Films released at the end of the year stand a better chance of winning an Oscar. Once upon a time in Hollywood, distributors decided “prestige” pictures would benefit from being fresh in the minds of academy voters, and the idea took root.
Last year’s eventual best picture winner, Green Book, opened on Nov. 21, while five of the other seven nominees came out between October and December. Only Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman and the Marvel movie Black Panther bucked the trend. Lee released his movie in August, on the anniversary of the Charlottesville riots; and Black Panther, which opened in February, wasn’t trying to position itself as an Oscar contender. Besides, Marvel had two more films to squeeze in that year.
You need to look back a decade to find a best picture Oscar winner that was released earlier than October. The Hurt Locker, which premièred at the Venice and Toronto festivals in 2008, then opened in limited release the following July, went on to win best picture of 2009.
And so although the year is out, there are still buzzworthy Oscar hopefuls to come. Here’s what we’re watching out for:
RICHARD JEWELL (IN THEATRES)
Director Clint Eastwood is, fittingly, the fastest gun in Hollywood. His last film, The Mule, opened last December; before that was The 15:17 to Paris, which had come out just 10 months earlier. His newest tells the story of a security guard who discovered explosives during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, helped clear the area and, for his troubles, was suspected of having planted the devices.
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (IN THEATRES)
The original Star Wars in 1977 won six Oscars and was also nominated for best picture and best supporting actor (Alec Guinness as Ben ‘Obi-wan’ Kenobi), but none of the prequels or sequels has ever garnered a best picture or acting nomination. Episode IX offers a new (and final) hope for the franchise.
BOMBSHELL (IN THEATRES)
Powerhouse performances by Oscar-nominee Margot Robbie and winners Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman anchor this true story of Fox News executive Roger Ailes’s fall from power at the end of a long and sordid career.
LITTLE WOMEN (IN THEATRES)
Greta Gerwig, who earned a best picture nomination for 2017’s Lady Bird, brings the classic Louisa May Alcott novel to the big screen for the first time in a generation. The last big production was in 1994, with Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst.
THE SONG OF NAMES (IN SELECT THEATRES)
To be fair, there hasn’t been a lot of Oscar buzz around this Canadian production, but the emotional story, which touches on the Holocaust and the power of music, would seem to be pushing all the awards-season buttons. Clive Owen and Tim Roth star.
UNCUT GEMS (IN SELECT THEATRES)
The Safdie brothers, Benny and Josh, direct Adam Sandler in what might be a career-high performance, and probably the most noteworthy thing he’s done since Punch-drunk Love in 2002. He plays a New York City jeweller in this dark comedy, which was reclassified to “drama” from “comedy” for the Golden Globes.
JUST MERCY (JAN. 10)
How can a film that doesn’t open until 2020 win an Oscar for 2019? Academy rules say if you play in New York or Los Angeles before year-end you qualify, and that’s what this drama is doing before its Canadian release next week. It’s the true story of lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) trying to clear his client (Jamie Foxx), who has been wrongfully imprisoned for murder.
1917 (JAN. 10)
Director Sam Mendes and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins worked closely on this tale of two soldiers on a mission to prevent a doomed attack. It appears to unfold in a single uncut shot.
WEATHERING WITH YOU (JAN. 17)
Never heard of this animated film about a high school runaway who befriends a girl who can control the weather? Don’t worry. In many years, the Oscar nominees for best animated feature include a Japanese entry that didn’t get much press in North America.
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (FEB. 14)
This French-language romance won the best screenplay prize at Cannes, and has been named best foreign-language film by the New York Film Critics Online group. Overshadowed by the Korean movie Parasite in most awards, it remains one of the most sumptuous offerings of the Oscar season.