The 2022 Oscars marked an important milestone in the future of entertainment as nominations shifted from theatre shown films to ones exclusive to streaming services. The most nominated film of the night was Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, which lost the Best Picture award to Apple’s Coda.
The way in which we consume media has changed drastically over the last few years as more and more people subscribe to streaming services and have been looking for at home entertainment thanks to the pandemic and its lock downs. As a result, streaming exclusives are getting bigger budgets, better production and have more and more people watching them. Films that debuted on streaming services became eligible after a decision in 2020 that came into effect for the 2021 awards.
Streaming services have thrived but at the cost of the decline of theatres, meaning the release of projects directly to streaming services is much more appealing for filmmakers.
The Oscars itself has had viewership plummet over the years. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has sought to make the streamed portion of the ceremony shorter, enraging those who don’t have their awards televised.
However, this year, the Oscars got a bit more attention for the wrong reasons. After comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, saying he was looking forward to “G.I. Jane 2”, her husband Will Smith stormed the stage and slapped him, before returning to his seat and screaming obscenities.
While the clip’s audio was largely cut from the broadcast, Aussies and Japanese viewers caught the footage and it has been since shared all over the internet.
