Reading of the Oscar nominations begins

The nominees for best supporting actress are: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”; Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari.”

The nominees for best supporting actor are: Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; Leslie Odom Jr., “One Night in Miami”; Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”; Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”; LaKeith Stanfield, “Judas and the Black Messiah.”

The nominees for best documentary feature are: “Collective”; “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution”; “The Mole Agent”; “My Octopus Teacher”; “Time.”

The nominees for best international film are: “Quo Vadis, Aida?”, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Denmark, “Another Round”; “Better Days,” Hong Kong; “Collective,” Romania; “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” Tunisia.

The nominees for best original song are: “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”; “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”; “Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”; “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…”; and “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

The nominees for best animated feature: “Onward”; “Over the Moon”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers.”

The nominees for best original screenplay are: “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Shaka King and Will Berson; “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung; “Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell; “Sound of Metal,” Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; “Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin.

The nominees for best costume design: Alexandra Byrne, “Emma”; Ann Roth, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Trish Summerville, “Mank”; Bina Daigeler “Mulan”; Massimo Cantini Parrini “Pinocchio.”

After a pandemic year that shuttered most movie theatres, the expected best-picture nominees will have hardly any box office to speak of. It will be an Oscars not just without blockbusters but with many movies that have barely played on the big screen. Streaming services are set to dominate Hollywood’s biggest and most sought-after awards.

The film academy and ABC, which will telecast the Oscars on April 25 (delayed two months due to the pandemic), will hope that the nominees can drum up more excitement than they have elsewhere. Interest in little golden statuettes has nosedived during the pandemic. Ratings for a largely virtual Golden Globes, with acceptance speeches by Zoom, plunged to 6.9 million viewers — a 64% drop from 2020 — last month.

The most likely lead nominee Monday could be a traditional kind of Oscar movie: one about Hollywood. David Fincher’s “Mank,” a black-and-white ode to a bygone Hollywood penned by the director’s late father about “Citizen Kane” co-writer Herman Mankiewicz, seems assured of double-digit nominations, thanks to its performers (Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried) and its lavish craft.

“Mank” will lead an Oscar storm for Netflix that could see the streamer pick up at least three best-picture nominees, including Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — a film jettisoned by Paramount Pictures in the midst of the pandemic — and the August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Chadwick Boseman, the best-actor frontrunner, is set to be posthumously nominated half a year after his death in August at the age of 43.

Amazon is also in the mix with “Sound of Metal,” “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “One Night in Miami.” Other likely nominees were most widely seen on streaming platforms, including “Judas and the Black Messiah” (on HBO Max), “Soul” (on Disney+) and “Wolfwalkers” (on Apple TV+). Because of the pandemic, the academy suspended its rule requiring theatrical release.

But the best-picture favourite may be Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland,” Chloe Zhao’s elegiac road movie about a woman (Frances McDormand) living out of her van. Zhao is likely to become the first woman of colour ever to win for best director and only the sixth woman ever nominated. Zhao could be joined by Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”), Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), Regina King (“One Night in Miami”) or Spike Lee (“Da 5 Bloods”) in a category that has overwhelmingly belonged to white men through Oscar history.

With the notable exception of fueling streaming subscriber growth, the pandemic has been punishing for the movie industry. Production slowed to a crawl, blockbusters were postponed or detoured to streaming and thousands have been laid off or furloughed.

But the outlook for Hollywood has recently brightened as coronavirus cases have slid and vaccines have ramped up. Movie theatres are reopening in the U.S.’s two largest markets, New York and Los Angeles. And several larger movies — including the Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow” (May 7) — are scheduled for May and beyond.

Film academy president David Rubin said Monday that the April 25 show will play out at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre as well as its transportation hub, Union Station. Expect the broadcast to do its best to pitch viewers on going back to the movies.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Reading of the Oscar nominations begins

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