Critics Choice Awards go big for Everything, Everywhere at Once, but what does it mean for Oscar?

With Sunday night’s lively, fun and star-studded Critics Choice Awards in the ballroom at Fairmont Century Plaza (and accompanying upstairs viewing party, featuring the 300 members and guests who lost the organization’s lottery and couldn’t get a seat, handled gracefully. now there’s really nothing between him and the January 24th announcement of the Oscar nominations. However, with the nationally televised program airing 48 hours before the Oscars (Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT), the influence could be strong be, especially for rousing speeches from the likes of Brendan Fraser; an impressive number of top categories Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan becomes the vast stream of acting winners so far this season). Everything everywhere at once; and among other memorable moments, the great Guillermo del Toro, who strives to keep putting every animated trophy in sight.

But as a group of critics spread across the country and now even the world with growing international membership, the former Broadcast Critics Association has built a reputation for the creepy presentation of the Oscar for the best since its inception 28 years ago ago, which the film was built. Winners and nominees – especially for a group of critics rather than a guild like PGA, SAG and DGA whose membership overlaps with that of the Academy. In fact, in the first 10 years of this century, CCA and Oscar Best Picture winners matched eight times, with the CCA choice differing only in 2004-2005 Sideways and Brokeback Mountain about Oscar winners million dollar baby and crashing down (two films that have had their AMPAS momentum built up, while CCA is a snapshot slightly earlier in the season). However, over the past 11 years it has been roughly 50-50, perhaps reflecting the significant increase in membership and demonstrations of both organizations. In fact, they weren’t really a match for the past six years until 2017 The shape of the water and in the severely pandemic-stricken year 2020 nomadic land, The latter was a bit of an anomaly because so few contenders were released.

So what does this mean for the chances of Everything everywhere at once after winning five awards from an impressive 14 nominations on Sunday, making them by far the frontrunner in terms of nominations coming in? Does this only reflect critics of the industry? Take note, Everything everywhere won many best picture awards from regional critics groups, well, all over: Atlanta, Austin, Utah, Central Florida, Dallas Ft. Worth, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Las Vegas, Music City, North Carolina, North Texas, Oklahoma, Online Female Critics Org, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Southeast, St. Louis, United Kingdom, Washington DC, not to mention the Gothams. This collective power seems worthy of CCA’s national reach in its love of film, but will industry and academia follow suit?

Indications are decided Yes with five leading SAG nominations, PGA and DGA nominations, an inevitable WGA nomination on January 25, eight leading Indie Spirit nominations and more. It also holds an important place on the BAFTA longlists with 11 entries in almost every category it can qualify for; these final BAFTA nominations will be announced on Thursday. It looks like a tsunami of industry-wide support for the A24 indie that can, and it might just generate the kind of buzz it can parasite and KODA could do — especially with a SAG ensemble win to come. In this case, CCA seems to be part of the charge, unlike the other two recent Best Picture Oscar winners mentioned above.

One last Oscar for Best Picture for Everything everywhere would also upset the apple cart of conventional thinking for prize contenders. It didn’t hit the usual festival circuit of Oscar nominees from Cannes to Venice, Telluride, Toronto, but premiered at SXSW in March, not on the typical festival launch path for a best picture campaign.

The biggest question, however, is whether the older, one-sided AMPAS membership will hold up to the versatile film and frenetic pace that does well in theaters but may not work so well on the Academy’s digital platform, where unfortunately most voters are likely to see. With this latest endorsement from Critics Choice today, last-minute voters will no doubt see what all the fuss is about.

The other race ahead that is interesting to watch is for Best Actor, which has had four different winners in the past six days: both Austin Butler (elvis) and Colin Farrell (Banshees by Inisherin) at the globe; Bill Nighty (life) at the new non-gender Los Angeles Film Critics ceremony Saturday night; and Fraser The whale Sundays at Critics Choice. All four appear to be Oscar nominations and the race seems wide open at this point. We’ll have to wait a few weeks until the SAG Awards on February 26 before we get more of an indication of where this race could be headed. Indie Spirits can’t give a clue either, with their new non-gender categories nominating eight women and just two men (Jeremy Pope and Paul Mescal). crazy year

Meanwhile, there can be no doubting spirits Wash high at the 28th Critics Choice Awards (I’m a member and president of the motion picture industry) and I want to thank Focus Features for inviting me to the front row table Tar (a few meters away and we would have been on stage) especially chair Peter Kujawski and co-chair Jason Cassidy who were great fun to meet, along with CCA Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett, her brilliant co-star Nina Hoss and to sit Taright Writer, director and producer Todd Field.

Blanchett, who won almost everything this year because of her stellar performance, looked genuinely shocked when she won at CCA (she missed the Globes, where she also won). I told her I loved her speech, especially when she hoped that the “television horse race” of awards season could come to an end and we could just appreciate the breadth and depth of so many great shows out there. Don’t count on that ever happening, but it’s a good thought.

Now for horse racing.