AFP :
Nominations for this year’s Oscars will be unveiled
on Tuesday with the ‘Barbenheimer’ juggernaut expected to roll on to the
climax of Hollywood’s
awards season with multiple chances at glory.
After a combined $2.4 billion global box office take, ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ — two films linked only by their simultaneous release last July — are seen as locks for a suite of nods for the 96th Academy Awards, which take place on March 10.
“It continues to be their year, and we expect them to dominate the nominations,”
Pete Hammond, columnist for industry site Deadline,
told AFP.
With its clutch of five Golden Globes and momentum on
its side, ‘Oppenheimer’ — Christopher Nolan’s masterly portrait of the father of the atomic bomb — appears to have the edge in the race for best picture, the Academy’s top prize. Greta Gerwig’s popular ‘Barbie’ — a sharp satire about
misogyny and female empowerment — is playing catch-up after an initial burst
of awards optimism faded.
The film, which had nine nominations for the Globes,
left with just two consolation prizes — best song and a newly created trophy for box
office achievement.
And, said Hammond, it faces an uphill battle to turn its
audience gold into major Oscars success.
“Comedies, or something considered lighter, are
generally at a disadvantage against something a little
heavier,” he said.
“So in the world of Barbenheimer, ‘Oppenheimer’
definitely has the advantage because it’s got gravitas;
it’s important.”
Rounding out the best
picture category, nominations are widely expected for Martin Scorsese’s crime saga ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and Venice Film Festival winner ‘Poor Things’, a female-focused takes on the Frankenstein myth. Christmas boarding school tale ‘The Holdovers’ is already
being spoken of as a durable seasonal classic, while Leonard Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’, which sees Bradley Cooper in front and behind the camera, also appears well placed.
The well-received French film ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, which won two Golden Globes including best screenplay, might fare well in a world where voters no longer seem scared of subtitles.