An Oscar statue appears outside the Dolby Theatre. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File) An Oscar statue appears outside the Dolby Theatre. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)
New York — The Oscars still don't have a host, but by Tuesday evening, they'll at least have nominees.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will unveil nominations to the 91st Oscars on Tuesday from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. The nominations, to be announced by Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross.
The lead-up to Tuesday's nominations has been rocky for both the film academy and some of the movies in contention. Shortly after being announced as host, Kevin Hart was forced to withdraw over years-old homophobic tweets that the comedian eventually apologized for. That has left the Oscars, one month before its Feb. 24th ceremony, without an emcee, and likely to stay that way.
Here are some of the pressing questions heading into Tuesday's nominations.
Best picture nominees can fall anywhere from five to ten. Most commonly, we end up with nine nominees, as there was last year when Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" ultimately prevailed. Most assured of a spot are the films that have fared well consistently with Hollywood's guilds, whose memberships overlap with the 17 branches of the academy.
The five films picked by the strongly predictive Directors Guild — "BlacKkKlansman," ''A Star is Born," ''Roma," ''Green Book" and "Vice" — are probably in. So, too, are "The Favourite" and "Black Panther," leaving films like "Eighth Grade," ''First Man," ''A Quiet Place" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" vying for a place.
"Roma," Cuaron's black-and-white memory masterwork, is poised to hand Netflix its first best picture nomination — something the streaming service has dearly sought. Amazon got there first in 2017 with "Manchester by the Sea" but Netflix came close last year with Dee Rees' "Mudbound." This time around, it has gone against its regular policies to release "Roma" in select theaters shortly in advance of arriving on Netflix.
But there's resistance among some academy members to Netflix films at the Oscars since the company typically bypasses movie theaters. Steve Spielberg has said Netflix films are more like TV movies and deserve an Emmy, not an Oscar.
If "Roma," which is Mexico's foreign language submission, were to win best picture, it would become the first foreign language film to ever win in the category. Cuaron, who served as his own director of photography, is expected to be nominated for both best directing and best cinematography. If he were to win best director, he and his "Three Amigos" countrymen — del Toro, Alejandro G. Inarritu — will have won the category five of the last six years.
Coogler's superhero sensation sold more tickets ($700 million worth) than any other film in North America in 2018. It has thus far won some honors here and there, but "Black Panther" may emerge as a major contender Tuesday. Coogler's film could be well represented in the craft categories, including visual effects, production design and costumes, along with Kendrick Lamar's "All the Stars" in the best song category.
The film's director of photography, Rachel Morrison, last year became the first woman to be nominated for best cinematography. This year, she could repeat the feat.
"Black Panther" could make history in one other way, too. A best picture nomination would be Marvel's first.
Spike Lee has been nominated twice before, for writing 1989's "Do the Right Thing" and for best documentary (1998's "4 Little Girls"). The 61-year-old filmmaker has even been given an honorary Oscar by the film academy, in 2015. But this year, Lee is favoured to earn his first directing nomination for his impassioned white supremacist drama "BlacKkKlansman."
A year after Greta Gerwig became just the fifth woman nominated for best director, all of this year's favourites are men. Whether someone like Debra Granik ("Leave No Trace") can crack the category this year or not, it will be a different academy voting. In the last few years, the academy has considerably increased its membership in an effort to diversify its ranks, which have historically been overwhelmingly white and male. In June, the academy invited a record 928 new members.
The Academy of Motion Pictures is reportedly planning to go host-less following Hart's exit, something it has tried only once before in an infamous 1989 telecast that featured a lengthy musical number with Rob Lowe and Snow White.
The Oscars last year hit a new ratings low, declining 20 percent and averaging 26.5 million viewers. Though ratings for award shows have generally been dropping, the downturn prompted the academy to revamp this year's telecast. Though initial plans for a new popular film category were scuttled, the academy is planning to present some awards off-air and keep the broadcast to three hours.