If box office mattered, Wicked for Good would be a force to be reckoned with. The pre-sales are through the roof, breaking Fandango's record for first-day sales for 2025.  That might have mattered once upon a time, back when the Oscars had some relevance for the majority. I think it's safe to say those days are gone. Not only won't box office matter when it comes to how much a movie made, it's possible that how much a movie cost might not...

Chase Infinity will campaign in lead, so says this exclusive from Variety. Can she crack the top five? And how does that impact the balance of the Best Actress race? The placement does a couple of things. The first is that it frees up the Supporting Actress category for Teyana Taylor, who is most-buzzed and might even win, or could win, in the category. Chase Infinity probably can't beat Jessie Buckley, but she won't cancel out Teyana Taylor. Chase Infinity has an impressive...

Sasha Stone, Scott Kernen and Jeremy Jentzen talk for a bit on the race. We talk about Marty Supreme and argue about whether or not Ryan Coogler will make the cut. It gets a little spicy. Hope you enjoy.

Timothée Chalamet was buzzed early in the Best Actor race by people who had not yet seen Marty Supreme. His "Oscar story" was already being crafted as someone who almost won last year for playing Bob Dylan. The versatile actor has now shapeshifted into a ping pong player in a film by Josh Safdie. It has been compared to Uncut Gems both favorably and unfavorably. Of Timothée Chalamet, Josh Safdie said he wrote Marty Supreme for him and for "his essence and...

The official teaser for Neon's No Other Choice Directed by Park Chan-wook, starring Lee Byung Hun and Son Yejin. In Select Theaters Christmas. Everywhere January. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK_DEabMNVg The International Feature category is always packed. This year, Sentimental Value and No Other Choice seem to be at the top of the heap, but who knows how it will play out ultimately. This probably feels more "important" than Sentimental Value but it might not land in the major categories like Sentimental will.  

Netflix leads with 15 nominations. Nominations as follows: CASTING SOCIETY ANNOUNCES  TELEVISION, THEATER, COMMERCIALS, SHORT FILM & SERIES NOMINATIONS FOR 41st ANNUAL ARTIOS AWARDS  TO BE HELD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2026 Netflix Leads with 15 Nominations and Apple TV+ with 9 Nominations  in Television Categories  FILM, FIRST RELEASED FOR TELEVISION OR STREAMING BRIDGET JONES MAD ABOUT THE BOY: Lucy Bevan, Olivia Grant, Associate Casting Director: Lucy Downes CARRY-ON: Chelsea Ellis Bloch, Marisol Roncali MOUNTAINHEAD: Francine Maisler, Associate Casting Directors: Molly Rose, Amber...

Back to our regularly scheduled programming—A few weeks ago, I made my “Mount Rushmore of Actresses” of the 2000s, and today we continue the fun with Mount Actor! Though with the new AI crackdown I couldn’t generate a cool image like I did with the actresses, nevertheless, my Mount Actor 4 of the 2000s are: Leonardo DiCaprio, Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney, and Johnny Depp. My only rule in deciding who deserves a spot on my mountain is simple: they must have...

If the pundits and Film Twitter critics are to be believed, One Battle After Another is not just the best film of the year but perhaps the best film ever. By all accounts, it is set to sweep the Oscars with the same passionate fervor as Everything Everywhere All At Once. The right movie at exactly the right time for these exact voters. The Scott Kernen theory that it's Moonlight or The Shape of Water, post-Trump, is also kind of making sense...

Continuing on from the past few weeks regarding above the line categories, it’s time to look at what the consensus might be for Best Supporting Actor, and what the Awards Community thinks could be considered a “frontrunner” or “challenger” for ultimately prevailing in the end. From the Award Expert app, this is the consensus at the current moment. Out front, ever since the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, has been Stellan Skarsgård for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. Though considered by...

The CBS/Paramount deal to aquire Bari Weiss' The Free Press for about the same cost as the budget for One Battle After Another is now complete. Weiss announced it, along with her mission statement, on their YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqZ7E_Mx-K4 She lays out her plans to stay CEO and Editor in Chief of The Free Press, along with guiding CBS News in a better direction (60 Minutes, Sunday Morning). CBS needs Bari Weiss more than she needs CBS. This is a rescue mission,...

This weekend, Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another crossed the $100 million mark at the global box office, picking up $58 million internationally, adding to the $42 million domestic. Had the film cost around $50 million, it would be in a great position to win Best Picture. It cost between $130-$150 million. If it won, it would be the second-highest budget film to win since Titanic. Does that even matter? It didn't entirely bomb, and it looks like it will do...

The eligible podcasts have been announced for the inaugural podcast award from the Golden Globes, and it's a little bit awkward.  It might shock them to see who some of the top 25 most-listened to people are. To get a nomination, they must be Team Blue. We know that, right? There are no exceptions. When Jane Fonda and 500 other VIPs in Hollywood signed a pledge stating they stood up for the right to free speech for anyone, regardless of their political...