If you’re an awards season geek, the anticipation for Netflix’s splashy attempts at securing Oscar glory must be palpable. Every year, the streamer spends millions of dollars pushing its original movies into the Oscar race, with a wide array of contenders across multiple categories. It’s incredible to think how, before 2015, they were not part of this game, and they increased their ambitions year after year until now, they’ve become a staple of every Oscar season with at least one guaranteed slot in the Best Picture conversation amongst the other big Hollywood studios. This year is no different as awards pundits always ask themselves, what will Netflix’s no. 1 priority be this awards season? With the second half of 2024 now firmly underway, the excitement is building: What’s next for Netflix? What titles will the streamer be pushing for awards season 2024 glory?
Netflix’s 2024 awards season slate includes several movies that were incredibly popular on the 2023 film festival scene. Projects like “Hit Man” and “His Three Daughters” all debuted at the biggest 2023 film festivals. However, after shelling out for these titles, Netflix held the titles back from official release until 2024 to help fill vacant slots in its schedule (with Anna Kendrick’s feature directorial debut from TIFF 2023 “Woman of the Hour” still MIA as of today).
Netflix’s overall biggest awards season contender released this year will be Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,“ due to its ability to score Oscar nominations in above and below the line categories. A big Cannes 2024 sensation (and winner of the Best Actress award from the festival), Netflix has U.S. rights to the acclaimed musical. If the streamer can create a solid awards campaign for the idiosyncratic “Emilia Pérez,” it could go far in the Oscar race, snagging nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for its breakout star Karla SofÃa Gascón, dual Best Supporting Actress nominations for Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez and many more. After all, recent Cannes darlings have also had a habit of securing lots of Oscar love recently, with the Academy’s membership skewering more international than ever before, and Audiard is a world-renowned auteur who fits the classic definition of a potential international Best Director nominee who is overdue for some recognition from the Academy. Like “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Roma” before it, if it can secure its country’s selection for Best International Feature Film, with the Best Picture buzz already attached to it this early, it will be a shoo-in for at least one Oscar win.
Could Azazel Jacobs’ “His Three Daughters“ have a shot at some accolades? Maybe, but its September release date means it’s arriving pretty early in the award season cycle so it could get left behind quickly. Plus, it’s the kind of smaller-scale title that doesn’t benefit from Netflix’s style of releasing movies via limited qualifying release in New York and LA before dropping on Netflix two weeks later. However, it getting out of the way now could help solidify its contention status for Natasha Lyonne in Best Supporting Actress and Jacobs’ writing for Best Original Screenplay. Similarly, Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” could’ve been a Best Actor contender for its megastar Glen Powell. Still, its June 2024 release date will likely keep it away from the Oscars’ radar, with an outside possibility of scoring a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination still on the table, given the film’s entertaining style of writing and love for multi-previous-nominee Linklater.
If any late 2024 Netflix movie is likely bound for the biggest Oscar categories above the line, it’s Malcolm Washington’s “The Piano Lesson.“ An adaptation of an August Wilson play of the same name, “The Piano Lesson,” is already acclaimed in its original stage format. It starred John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, who are reprising their roles for the big screen. Additionally, the last two modern August Wilson film adaptations (“Fences“ and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom“) each scored significant Oscar nominations, with “Fences“ winning Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Viola Davis and securing a Best Picture Oscar nomination while “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” contended for Best Actress (David again) and Best Actor (the late great Chadwick Boseman), winning for Best Costume Design and Hair & Makeup. That’s a good legacy to build on, especially since the film could be a prime opportunity to give acclaimed actor Samuel L. Jackson only his second acting Oscar nomination and first competitive win after he was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2022.
Other late 2024 Netflix films, such as the Taron Edgerton/Jason Bateman thriller “Carry-On,“ seem to be banking more on mainstream ubiquity rather than Oscar glory. The Sydney Freeland drama “Rez Ball“ is set for a World Premiere in Toronto, but we expect it to follow the same path as another sports drama “The Swimmers” did before. Tyler Perry’s war movie “Six Triple Eight“ could still be announced for a fall festival run. Still, it being left off the TIFF Galas and Special Presentations list suggests this will just be a commercial play for the famous director.
As is always the case, reviews and film festival hype will determine the Oscar fates of many of these films. “Emilia Pérez” is expected to play at Telluride and New York Film Festival on top of TIFF, and “The Piano Lesson” will have its world premiere at Telluride, making this a rare year where Netflix will have zero presence at the Venice International Film Festival, a place that has served as the launching pad for Best Picture nominees such as “Roma,” “Marriage Story,” “The Power of the Dog” and last year’s “Maestro.” Should things look dire regarding the reactions for either “Emilia Pérez” or “The Piano Lesson,” Netflix could end up acquiring another potentially substantial awards season player with titles like Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” and Ron Howard’s “Eden” still seeking distribution.
Netflix’s Oscar ambitions are broader than the categories we’ve already outlined. The streamer is also looking to score Oscar nominations every year for Best Documentary and Animated Feature. Currently, Netflix’s best possibilities for getting into the Documentary Feature category are through Sundance 2024 acquisitions “Will & Harper,” “Ibelin,” “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” or “Daughters.“ Given the Documentary branch’s disdain for popular titles that cultivate too broad of an audience, we expect “Daughters” to be the one they gravitate towards the most. In Best Animated Feature, “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl“ seems to be Netflix’s best possible candidate, with “Ultraman: Rising“ or “Spellbound” as a potential spoiler nominee depending on their reception and how the rest of the field shapes up.
These Netflix award season 2024 titles will attempt to fight back against the streamer’s odd Oscar track record in recent years. This Silicon Valley entity has had no problem securing Oscar nominations; they’re guaranteed to have a presence every year given the variety of titles, categories they can contend for, and financial backing they receive. After all, a quarter of this past year’s acting Oscar nominees were from Netflix movies. However, Oscar wins have proven somewhat elusive to Netflix. At two of the last three Oscars, Netflix took home only one Oscar at each ceremony. This was despite the company spending tens of millions on awards campaigning. Unfortunately, all of that money couldn’t translate into a boatload of Oscar victories for the company, nor a Best Picture win, which they’ve come painfully close to obtaining before with beloved critical favorites “Roma” and The Power of the Dog.”
While Oscar wins for Best International Film (“All Quiet on the Western Front“), Best Animated Feature (“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio“), and Wes Anderson’s only Oscar win to date for Best Live-Action Short Film last year (“The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar“) are nice; the streamer would probably like to win more than one Oscar this year and preferably have one of them be for Best Picture. With a reduced slate this year, split campaigning, which has been called out as a possible detriment in the past, should not be an obstacle for them this year as they will have the runway and power to push their contenders strategically.
Soon enough, it’ll become clear where Netflix’s 2024 Oscar fate lies. Just as “Maestro“ and “The Power of the Dog” quickly emerged as the streamer’s major award season contenders in their respective years of release, the fall 2024 film festival circuit will unveil Netflix’s next possible pathway toward Oscar glory. With such a robust and focused lineup, many further Netflix Oscar nominations seem inevitable. Only time will tell if Netflix can genuinely take home more wins than they have in recent years, but the potential is certainly there.
Which Netflix titles have a shot at Oscar nominations this year? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account and be sure to check out the Next Best Picture team’s latest Oscar predictions here.
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