Oscars 2022: Streaming dominates nominations again, with Netflix's The Power of the Dog, Apple TV's The Tragedy of Macbeth

In a year when Hollywood largely failed to jump-start theatrical moviegoing, streaming services solidified their hold on viewers. And Tuesday, Oscar voters rewarded Netflix, Apple TV+, and Amazon films with nearly 40 Oscar nominations — 27 for Netflix alone, with Jane Campion’s Western _The Power of the Dog_ recognised in an impressive 12 categories, including best picture.

Campion became the first woman in the 94-year history of the Academy Awards to receive two directing nominations. [Her first was for The Piano in 1994.] Another Netflix film, the divisive climate change satire _Don’t Look Up,_ will also compete for moviedom’s top prize. ABC will broadcast the Oscars on 27 March.

“We set out to build a great film studio by empowering great filmmakers to tell great stories, and I’m proud that we’re doing it across disciplines and teams, including animation and documentary short,” Scott Stuber, Netflix’s film chief, said by phone, noting that Netflix received more nominations than any other company for the third year in a row.

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Apple TV+ made significant inroads with Oscar voters, with _CODA_, a romantic drama about the only hearing member of a deaf family, giving the tech giant its first best picture nomination. CODA also received nominations for Troy Kotsur’s supporting performance, and Sian Heder’s adapted screenplay. Another Apple TV+ movie, _The Tragedy of Macbeth_, was recognised for lead acting [Denzel Washington], cinematography, and production design.

The Power of the Dog, Don’t Look Up, and CODA were joined in the best picture category by two movies that were released simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters [ _Dune_ and King Richard, both from Warner Bros]; four traditional movies that were box office duds [Belfast, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley]; and the little-seen but critically beloved Japanese film Drive My Car.

Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve, received 10 nominations in total. It was the second-most-nominated film behind The Power of the Dog — although, in a shock, Villeneuve did not receive a nod for best director. Instead, in another sign of an evolving movie academy, which has tried to become less of a club for white men by expanding its overseas membership, voters recognized Ryusuke Hamaguchi for Drive My Car, an introspective drama about a widowed theater director and the young woman who drives him to rehearsals.

Steven Spielberg [West Side Story], Kenneth Branagh [Belfast], and Paul Thomas Anderson [Licorice Pizza] rounded out the directing field. Notably, all three pushed for exclusive theatrical runs for their movies.

No streaming service has ever won a best picture Oscar; despite inroads, the traditional studios have fended them off. [The winner from last year, Nomadland from Searchlight Pictures, was mostly seen on Hulu, but only because most theaters were closed.] But streaming companies are now in the dominant position, in part because the pandemic accelerated a consumer shift away from theaters, at least where high-brow films are concerned. The economics of streaming also make it easier to spend freely in pursuit of Oscars.

One heavily campaigned film, Amazon Prime Video’s _Being the Ricardos_ received three nominations, with Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman among the lead acting nominees and — in a surprise — JK Simmons recognised for his role as I Love Lucy actor William Frawley. [In total, streaming services accounted for 12 of the 20 acting slots.]

As always, Hollywood will pay as much attention to those who did not get nominated as those who did. Awards prognosticators expected Lady Gaga to be among the best actress nominees, for her gonzo performance in _House of Gucci_. Nominations instead went to Kristen Stewart [ _Spencer_], Jessica Chastain [The Eyes of Tammy Faye], Olivia Colman [ _The Lost Daughte_r], Penélope Cruz [Parallel Mothers], and Kidman.

In the documentary feature category, The Rescue, from previous Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin [ _Free Solo_], was notably left out.

Actress Categories

The unusually competitive best actress race this year produced cheers and jeers when the nominations were announced. Previous Oscar winners Kidman [Being the Ricardos] and Colman [The Lost Daughter] both received expected nods, but the rest of the category was filled with surprises and one eye-popping omission.

While she was left off the SAG Awards nominee list, Stewart received her first Oscar nomination after two decades of work. She was rewarded for stretching outside her comfort zone to play Princess Diana in Spencer.

Things did not go nearly as well for Lady Gaga, whose outsize performance in House of Gucci was passed over. The other nominations went to Chastain [The Eyes of Tammy Faye] and Cruz [Parallel Mothers].

In the supporting actress category, Kirsten Dunst also landed her first nomination, for playing an alcoholic mother in The Power of the Dog. A 32-year screen veteran, Dunst has waited even longer than Stewart for academy recognition. [The moment may be even sweeter considering that her real-life husband, Jesse Plemons, was also nominated for playing her on-screen husband.] With the exception of Judi Dench [Belfast], who landed her eighth nomination, the supporting actress category was filled with first-time nominees: Ariana DeBose [West Side Story], Aunjanue Ellis [King Richard], and Jessie Buckley [The Lost Daughter.]

Diversity

Last year was a watershed year for inclusion: Nine of the 20 acting nominations went to people of colour — a dramatic change from 2015 and 2016, when nearly all-white nominees prompted #OscarsSoWhite outcries. This year, the numbers were not as strong.

Will Smith nabbed a best actor nomination for his role as the stubborn, hard-charging father of Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard. (It is his first nomination since 2007, when he was recognised for The Pursuit of Happyness.) Washington, an eight-time nominee and two-time winner, was recognized for The Tragedy of Macbeth. In the supporting category, the academy nominated deaf actor Kotsur [CODA]. He joined his onscreen wife, Marlee Matlin, as the only two deaf actors ever recognised.

The academy chose an all-white best actress category, omitting Jennifer Hudson and her rousing performance as Aretha Franklin in Respect. In the supporting actress category, DeBose made the cut for her role in West Side Story, as did Ellis, a veteran actress who shined in King Richard.

The directing category, historically dominated by white men, saw Campion [The Power of the Dog] land her second nomination. Hamaguchi [Drive My Car] was also recognised.

Spielberg

For the eighth time in his five-decade career, Spielberg was nominated for best director. But it was not easy.

In a Hollywood that’s changing rapidly, Spielberg beat out competitors like Villeneuve [Dune], a perceived lock in the category.

What is different this time around is that Spielberg is not a frontrunner. Despite strong reviews for his interpretation of West Side Story, the favourite in the race this year is Campion, who directed the slow-burn western The Power of the Dog for Netflix. She is the only woman to be nominated twice in the category, having previously been nominated for The Piano in 1994.

Only seven women have ever been nominated for best director, and only two have won, including the victor from last year, Chloé Zhao [ _Nomadland_].

Branagh [Belfast], Anderson [Licorice Pizza], and Hamaguchi [Drive My Car] rounded out the category. It was Branagh’s second directing nomination, Anderson’s third, and Hamaguchi’s first.

The Academy may be pointed toward fresh cinematic voices — in recent years, the organisation has dramatically expanded its overseas membership to make itself less of a club for white men — but Spielberg’s nomination also showed that it is not ready to abandon its history just yet.

Popularity

Quick: Name the eight movies that were nominated for best picture at the ceremony last year, the one inexplicably held in a train station.

Do not feel bad. We had to Google it, too, and we get paid to follow this stuff. For a variety of reasons — the pandemic-accelerated shift toward small-screen streaming services, the stubborn refusal of voters to include films that the masses have actually seen — the Oscars just are not what they used to be, as evidenced by a 76 percent decline in viewership since 2014. Seventy. Six.

The ceremony this year will try to pick itself up off the Nielsen ratings asphalt by returning to a hosted format for the first time since 2018. A host has yet to be named.

Brooks Barnes and Nicole Sperling c.2022 The New York Times Company