With seven wins, including Best Film, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” dominates the 95th Oscars.
The film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won the best picture Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, finishing off an unlikely awards season run.
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film’s creators, received the original script and directing awards for their adventure about a Chinese-American laundromat owner coping with an IRS audit and extraterrestrial attackers, which brought in seven statues (collectively known as the Daniels). In a time when the market for arthouse films has shrunk, the win is a triumph for A24, the independent company that helped the outrageous movie earn an impressive $100 million at the box office. The studio also accomplished the extraordinary feat of winning all four acting awards; “Everything Everywhere All at Once” got three of them and “The Whale” took home one.
It was a night of reversals and evaluations. Michelle Yeoh, who starred in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” became the first Chinese woman to win best actress. After a lengthy career in martial arts and action films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Yes, Madam,” the award was bestowed.
“No one should ever tell you that you are past your prime.” Yeoh advised the women. She continued, “This is a beacon of hope and potential for all the little boys and girls watching tonight who look like me.”
In “The Whale,” Brendan Fraser won the award for best performer for his portrayal of an obese man attempting to reconcile with his daughter. Fraser, who was once well-known for his roles in blockbuster movies like “George of the Jungle” and “The Mummy,” has spent the last ten years or so away from the limelight battling his health and other issues. His victory shines through his amazing comeback.
The event took place as Hollywood was under pressure. Major studios and their corporate parents have invested a lot of time and money in starting their own in-house Netflix challengers as consumers have moved away from cable and toward subscription streaming services. The entertainment sector has also experienced a period of consolidation, as evidenced by the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia, Disney’s acquisition of a significant portion of 21st Century Fox, and Amazon’s acquisition of MGM. In the first two of these transactions, the buyer had a significant amount of debt on their balance sheet.
Investors are growing more worried that major media companies have too much debt and that their new revenue streams from streaming have not been able to completely substitute their previous revenue streams from cable subscriptions and movie ticket sales. A time of layoffs and cost-cutting followed, hurting the share prices of everyone from Netflix to Disney to the recently renamed Warner Bros. Discovery. There were dark clouds forming that could have overshadowed the Oscars’ celebratory atmosphere, with a potential recession looming and studios dealing with labor talks that were difficult with the unions that represented authors, directors, and actors and could result in strikes.
Below you’ll find the list of main winners:
- Best Picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, producers
- Best Lead Actress: Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
- Best Lead Actor: Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)
- Best Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
- Best Film Editing: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Paul Rogers
- Best Original Song: “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” — music by M.M. Keeravaani, lyric by Chandrabose
- Best Sound: “Top Gun: Maverick” — Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
- Best Adapted Screenplay: “Women Talking” — Sarah Polley
- Best Original Screenplay: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
- Best Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water” — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
- Best Original Score: “All Quiet on the Western Front” — Volker Bertelmann
- Best Production Design: “All Quiet on the Western Front” — production design by Christian M. Goldbeck, set decoration by Ernestine Hipper
- Best Cinematography: “All Quiet on the Western Front” — James Friend
- Best Documentary Feature Film: “Navalny” — Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
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