Pictured: Rustin, Maestro and Rebel Moon
With the 95th Academy Awards in the rearview, there are now eight months of releases before the next round of Oscar nominations are cobbled together. While some outlets have already started making lists for predictions for the next ceremony, it’s only the spring of 2023, and multiple factors will go into various chances for films coming out this year to make the final nominees list.
We already have a pretty good idea of what Netflix is offering in 2023 with its slate mostly figured out, although more titles could be added as the months chug along throughout the year. But we’ll try to point out some titles that jump out or having some strong potential for the next awards season.
Pain Hustlers
Coming to Netflix: October 27th
Picture: Netflix
A crime thriller that hails from director David Yates, best known from helming the bulk of the Potterverse films. Depending on reviews, the story sounds like it could be interesting enough to catch the attention of critics. The pharma drama also boasts an impressive cast with Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Catherine O’Hara, Chloe Coleman, Jay Duplass, Brian D’Arcy James, Amit Shah, and Andy Garcia.
Upon losing her job, a blue-collar woman struggling to raise her daughter takes a job at a failing pharmaceutical start-up, only to get involved in a dangerous racketeering scheme.
The Killer
Coming to Netflix: November 10th
Picture: Getty Images
Filmmaker David Fincher returns to Netflix after his Hollywood flick Mank landed ten nominations with winning statues for production design and cinematography. While Fincher is adapting a French graphic novel with The Killer and wading in the waters of genre, it’s hard to downplay the director’s ability to elevate whatever material he touches.
“After a fateful near-miss an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.”
Maestro
Coming to Netflix: 2023 TBD
Picture: Netflix
Bradley Cooper’s directorial follow-up after the massive success of A Star Is Born automatically had awards bait cooked into it from the jump after his last film earned eight nominations and walked away with Best Song for Lady Gaga.
Cooper will work behind the camera and play Leonard Bernstein with some solid old-age makeup in the biopic. The one problem that could arise is if Netflix bounces it to 2024, as with all of the films without locked-in release dates for 2023.
“Maestro is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.”
Shirley
Coming to Netflix: 2023 TBD
Picture: Getty Images
Regina King stars as iconic American political figure Shirley Chisholm and also features one of the final performances from the late Lance Reddick. Written and directed by John Ridley, who previously won an Oscar for his fantastic adapted script for the Steve McQueen-directed Best Picture winner 12 Years A Slave.
There is huge potential here as King won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar back in 2019 for her performance in If Beale Street Could Talk and her feature directorial debut One Night In Miami landed three nominations in the past as well. There is lots of love for King and Ridley, that’s for sure.
“Shirley is the intimate portrayal of trailblazing political icon Shirley Chisholm, the first Black Congresswoman and the first Black woman to run for President of the U.S, and the cost of accomplishment for Shirley herself. This film will tell the story of Chisholm’s boundary-breaking and historic presidential campaign, based on exclusive and extensive conversations with family, friends and those who knew her best.”
Rustin
Coming to Netflix: 2023 TBD
Picture: Netflix
The civil rights drama comes from director George C. Wolfe, who previously helmed Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. That film ended up etching out five nominations, including a posthumous Best Actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman. So, it’s certainly one to keep an eye on.
“Bayard Rustin, the brilliant strategist behind 1963’s momentous March On Washington and close advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr., dedicated his life to the tireless quest for racial equality, human rights, and worldwide democracy. But as an openly gay Black man, he was all but erased from the civil rights movement he helped build.”
Untitled Wes Anderson / Roald Dahl Film
Coming to Netflix: 2023 TBD
Picture: Getty Images
An adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugarman is expected to be the second Wes Anderson film released in 2023, that other film being Asteroid City at Focus Features/Universal Pictures.
Benedict Cumberbatch will star as Henry Sugar with Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade taking other unnamed roles. It’s hard to gauge sight unseen whether the film will be worthy of awards consideration. Still, it’s hard to ignore that The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, and Isle of Dogs were able to land nominations in the past.
The Grand Budapest Hotel was Anderson’s biggest Oscar contender nabbing nine nominations and four statues with wins for technical achievements alongside composer Alexandre Desplat’s quirky original score.
“Wes Anderson’s adaptation of several Roald Dahl short stories including The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Coming to Netflix: Q4 2023
Picture: Aardman
When it comes to animation, movies that are non-Disney or Pixar are harder to predict if they’ll end up getting nominations, and even harder when you don’t know how good a movie actually is.
The case with Chicken Run: Dawn of The Nugget has a solid track record from the animation studio behind it, Aardman Animations, known as the top dogs of claymation stop-motion. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2006, along with The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, Shaun The Sheep, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon landing nominations in their respective years.
It also doesn’t hurt that Netflix recently won this award with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
“Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream — a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk – this time, they’re breaking in!”
Rebel Moon
Coming to Netflix: December 22nd
Picture: Netflix
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, a rather large sci-fi fantasy take on the acclaimed Akira Kurosawa film The Seven Samurai (was nominated for two awards in 1957), could become a good technical award contender given the scale that has been teased so far.
“When a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, they dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past named Kora to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them take a stand.”
Future acquisitions could also put a wrench into current predictions or lists as streamers like Netflix bankroll their own originals and seek out film festivals/markets for new content throughout the year.
Not to mention films that distributors or studios want to offload when they get cold feet about a limited or wide theatrical release. Leading to places like Amazon, Apple, Hulu, and Netflix potentially picking up even more stragglers along the way.
It’s worth mentioning with all this said, actual awards predictions won’t really be totally worthwhile until the nominations are announced, and we get closer to the actual show, as other award ceremonies are a big part of figuring out who the frontrunners are. There also could be titles that might stand out more as the months go by and Netflix’s promotional campaigns kick in alongside critical reactions/in-depth reviews.
What do you think from Netflix’s 2023 slate will be nominated for an Oscar in 2024? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "A band of fearless chickens flock together to save poultry-kind from an unsettling new threat: a nearby farm that's cooking up something suspicious."
