With no ticket sales, Netflix’s ‘Roma’ tops Oscar nominees

LOS ANGELES — For the first time in history, a film with no boxoffice gross could win the top prize at the Academy Awards.

Netflix received its first-ever nomination for best picture Tuesday, with Oscar voters naming “Roma” as one of the best movies of 2018. The meditative black-and-white film about life in Mexico in the 1970s — which officially has ticket sales of zero, since Netflix does not release its films in a traditional manner — received 10 nominations overall, including for Alfonso Cuarón’s direction, cinematography and original screenplay.

Yalitza Aparicio, who plays the lead role in “Roma,” was given a best actress nomination, giving the film a presence in the acting categories — a crucial part of amassing the votes needed for a best-picture win. Voters even found a spot for Marina de Tavira as supporting actress.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences allows the best picture category to have as many as 10 or as few as five nominees, depending on how the organization’s 8,200 voting members spread their support. This time around eight movies were nominated, down from nine from last year. Rounding out the category were studio crowd-pleasers (“A Star Is Born,” “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody”), idiosyncratic indies (“The Favourite,” “Vice”) and films about racism in America (“BlacKkKlansman,” “Green Book”).

The 91st Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 24. The show will be broadcast on ABC.

CARLOS SOMONTE/NETFLIX/TNS Yalitza Aparicio stars in "Roma," written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Netflix has scored its first best-picture Oscar nomination for "Roma," and Aparicio was nominated for best actress.