The big blockbusters of 2023 sneak into the Oscars, but the gap between blockbuster movies and favorite films to win awards is still very much in force.
Just because a film sweeps the box office is not synonymous with receiving a barrage of Oscar nominations. The same applies in the opposite direction: you can have a film that goes through awards ceremonies as if they were military parades, but that raises just enough.
The 96th Academy Awards It will not be an exception to many of the rules that have accompanied the most prestigious awards in the industry for almost a century.
Next March 10 – March 11 at dawn in Spain – there are many films that will fight to win the coveted statuettes, but only a few blockbusters have managed to make a breakthrough.
In part, it's because films like Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Creatures are still They have not reached the barrier of 100 million dollars at the box office even; It is true that their modest budget of 35 million gives them a lot of peace of mind, and so do those 11 nominations.
Others films nominees such as Napoleon or The Assassins of the Moon face a rather problematic handicap: both are Apple TV+ films and, although they had a conventional release in theaters, many preferred to wait for them to be available on the platform.
We have the same case with Maestro, Bradley Cooper's film, which has 7 nominations, but Netflix's policy meant that it only had a limited release in theaters and festivals, which is a procedure to be eligible for the Academy Awards.
But this does not mean that we are not going to see blockbusters at the Oscars, and the best example are the two films with which we open this report.
The Barbenheimer returns
Even with the notorious sit-in Margot Robbie y Greta Gerwig In the categories of Best Lead Actress and Best Direction, Barbie accumulates eight nominations at the 2024 Oscars.
A few awards, with the possibility of one being Best Film, would not hurt at all to close the pink party. Of course the 1,445.6 million that Barbie accumulated at the box office are a good balm if the night did not go well.
For his part, Oppenheimer has a good streak on the awards circuit, but no one can ever trust the Oscar: The Academy likes to give the grade.
Christopher Nolan's monumental biographical film has 13 nominations to the Oscars 2024, and is also the third highest-grossing film of 2023, with $957.5 million collection.
Both are tough nuts to crack, but they're far from the only blockbuster movies with Oscar nominations this year.
The animation is going strong
If Barbie is the highest grossing film, and Oppenheimer the third on the list, the second does not have a nomination? Well no, Super Mario Bros.: The movie was left out of the final cut for Best Animated Feature.
In their place, we have two other blockbusters, starting with Spider-Man: Crossing the Multiverse, which significantly improved the box office of its predecessor thanks to the 690.6 million that he kneaded.
It may only be up for one Oscar, but animated films have been condemned to shine in a category since it was created in 2001, and very few manage to sneak into other competitions.
The other animated film that is up for the award and that, in addition, has good box office, is Elemental, by Pixarwhich started its time on the billboard rather poorly, but rebounded to stay at 496.4 million collection.
Compared to other figures that we are dealing with, it seems little, but it helps it to be a red lantern in the top 10 of the highest-grossing films of 2023. Think that India a Jones and the Dial of Destiny is left out of our selection because it had a rather weak box office, although John Williams opt for the Oscar.
There is never a lack of blockbusters in the technical categories
The Academy's escape route for decades to relegate many big-budget films—with some exceptions—is the technical categories: sound, editing, visual effects. These films tend to be quite big at the box office, so we will end our report with two of those that enter the mix.
First of all, we have the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2023, Guardians of the Vile Galaxy. 3, which was taken from the billboard $845.5 million for Marvel Studios. It will be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Visual Effects category.
Then we have Tom Cruise, who with all his hard work, it was a shame that Mission: Impossible: Death Sentence was left wanting. With 567.5 million collectionwhich was no wonder as expected, the film is the ninth highest grossing of the year.
But it is up for two Oscars, both in Best Visual Effects and Sound. Taking into account the taste of Tom Cruise and his team for practical purposes, his options are good, although they are also good for the competition.
That gap between blockbuster films and award-winning films continues to exist and, although there are exceptions on both sides, the abyss between the general public and the most conservative film buffs continues to stand out.