Industry News
by saidiontheside

saidi’s take – 1/25/2023

The landscape after the Academy Award nominations…

  • “Avatar: The Way of Water” was once again the #1 movie domestically making approx. $20 million.  The #2 was “Puss in Boots 2” with $11 million.  The highest new release was the thriller “Missing” coming in at #4 with $9 million.  Since “Avatar” box office is shrinking, some people are guessing it might not stay at #1 until “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” in 4 weeks.  It might fall to #2 in a week or two.
  • Worldwide “Avatar: The Way of Water” is the 6th movie to cross $2 BILLION WORLDWIDE so James Cameron has now created HALF of the 6 movies that have passed $2 BILLION globally.  However, most of the money is due to the international box office.  In the domestic box office, “Avatar: The Way of Water” isn’t even in the all time top 10 (currently at #13 on the all-time domestic charts – below “Top Gun: Maverick” at #5 all time and #1 for 2022 and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” at #3 all time).  Also, this past weekend “Puss in Boots 2” crossed $300 million worldwide.
  • Although “Megan” isn’t a huge box office success it has made approx. $100 million more worldwide that it cost to make so  – although there’s no script yet – they already scheduled the sequel movie for 2 years from now – Jan 17, 2025.
  • CineWorld/Regal announced last week that due to their bankruptcy they are closing almost 40 locations in the US including a former Arclight theater they took over less than 2 years ago – and finished remodeling with “Regal” signage last year – in Sherman Oaks, Ca, a VERY HIGH PROFILE theater in New York City at Union Square (that some are thinking will quickly be taken over by another company – maybe even AMC), and a theater just down the street from Fenway Park in Boston.
  • Academy Award nominations were announced this morning.  Among the surprises is the nomination of Andrea Riseborough for “To Leslie” because she hasn’t been nominated in almost any other awards, but they had a VERY HEAVY PUSH for her last week while the nominees were being voted on including interviews with Amy Adams, Kate Winslet (who said “you should win EVERYTHING”) and Edward Norton.  Cate Blanchett even mentioned her when she won the Critics Choice award for best actress.  Another surprise is “Top Gun: Maverick” DIDN’T GET a nomination for best cinematography although it was nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers, and it has already won best cinematography awards from others including the Critics Choice Awards. 

Here’s the major nominations:

Best Picture

  • “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)
  • “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Walt Disney)
  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight)
  • “Elvis” (Warner Bros.)
  • “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal/Amblin Partners)
  • “Tár” (Focus Features)
  • “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount)
  • “Triangle of Sadness” (Neon)
  • “Women Talking” (Orion Pictures/United Artists Releasing)

Actor in a Leading Role

  • Austin Butler in “Elvis”
  • Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
  • Brendan Fraser in “The Whale”
  • Paul Mescal in “Aftersun”
  • Bill Nighy in “Living”

Actress in a Leading Role

  • Cate Blanchett in “Tár”
  • Ana de Armas in “Blonde”
  • Andrea Riseborough in “To Leslie”
  • Michelle Williams in “The Fabelmans”
  • Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Directing

  • Martin McDonagh “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight)
  • Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
  • Steven Spielberg “The Fabelmans” (Universal/Amblin Partners)
  • Todd Field “Tár” (Focus Features)
  • Ruben Östlund “Triangle of Sadness” (Neon)

Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Brendan Gleeson in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
  • Brian Tyree Henry in “Causeway”
  • Judd Hirsch in “The Fabelmans”
    Barry Keoghan in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
  • Ke Huy Quan in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Angela Bassett in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
  • Hong Chau in “The Whale”
  • Kerry Condon in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
  • Jamie Lee Curtis in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
  • Stephanie Hsu in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Little bit of humor:

I’m pretty sure that the next “Avatar” WILL NOT have that name and I’m pretty sure that “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” will not be released on the same day. 

Also, I think “Avatar The What” would be a GREAT TITLE.