#best-picture

#best-picture

Wicked: For Good is aiming to be the 11th direct sequel to be nominated for Best Picture and the fifth sequel to be nominated the year directly after its predecessor. Of the three Best Picture-nominated sequels in the last four years, there's Top Gun: Maverick, a legacyquel to a movie that was seen as popcorn fare in the 1980s, and Avatar: The Way of Water and Dune: Part Two, sequels to previous Best Picture nominees that boasted both box-office success and dazzling visual filmmaking.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Beasts of No Nation, the first feature film distributed directly by Netflix. Directed by Cari Joji Fukunaga and starring Idris Elba, the movie made a modest splash in that year's awards season, with Elba winning the SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor, before ultimately falling short of any Oscar nominations. Within three years, and after making a significant investment in its publicity apparatus (hiring ace awards strategist Lisa Tayback),