2022’s half-over, but most of the potential best-picture Oscar nominees won’t be opening for months.
Here’s a quick alphabetical look at some titles likely to get into the early best-picture conversation:
* Any Steven Spielberg film is a safe bet for Academy consideration. His semi-autobiographical THE FABELMANS, from Universal/Amblin, stars Michelle Williams & Seth Rogen. It opens on 11/11 in NY & LA and goes wide on 11/23 for Thanksgiving.
Based on Spielberg’s childhood in Arizona, it’s film Academy members will want to see. By launching it early in NY & LA, Universal will make it the talk of those two key towns just as the Oscar season heats up.
* Paramount & Apple TV+ could hit the best picture race with (pictured) Martin Scorsese‘s historical crime drama KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON.
KILLERS, which reportedly cost $200M to produce, star Leonardo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro, who certainly aren’t strangers to Academy voters. Neither is Scorsese, who won in 2007 for directing THE DEPARTED.
* SHE SAID, from Universal/Annapurna/Plan B, opening 11/18, is based on the bestseller Megan Twohey & Jodi Kantor wrote after breaking the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal news in the NY Times. Their reporting led to putting the disgraced movie mogul in prison.
It’s the kind of ripped-from-the-headlines story Academy members love & with Weinstein at its core, it’s a must-see movie for them.