Oscars 2023: Streamers Beat A Retreat, Netting Half Of Last Year’s Nomination Tally

24.01.2023 - 18:39 / deadline.com

Despite all of the uncertainty about the future of theatrical distribution, streaming services collectively took a step back in this year’s Oscar race, earning about half of the nominations they did a year ago.

Netflix, Apple and Amazon accounted for 19 total nominations in this morning’s official field, down from 37 last year. Of course, 2022 was also the year Apple’s CODA broke through and won Best Picture. That milestone seemed to signify that the old divisions between conventionally released specialty and studio titles and those nurtured by streamers might be starting to diminish. Not so fast, Academy members seemed to say this time.

Just one of the 10 Best Picture nominations went to a streaming feature — Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front. While that German-language film managed the impressive feat of gaining both Best Picture and Best International Feature nods (two of its nine overall), no other streaming title garnered more than one nomination. Remarkably, major categories like Best Director (where Jane Campion earned Netflix’s lone win a year ago, for The Power of the Dog) and several others were lacking a single streaming representative.

Netflix’s 16 nominations continued a pattern of decline. Last year, it got 27, including a field-leading 12 for The Power of the Dog. That tally was down from 36 for its 2020 slate. Apple managed six noms last year and won three, all for CODA. Amazon fell to just four noms a year ago, from a dozen in the prior year, and was shut out.

Oscar Nominations 2023: Deadline’s Complete Coverage

This year, Apple managed two noms, including a surprise recognition for Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse is a nominee in Animated Short Film.