The holidays are here, Oscar voters. What are you going to watch?
At this point in the calendar, the answer could almost be “everything” – but maybe not everywhere, and definitely not all at once. The Academy Screening Room, the members-only portal where studios can place their films to be viewed by voters, has 178 films as of the beginning of Christmas week, including every major Best Picture contender except for a pair of three-hour epics only recently unveiled, Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” and James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Those films, which beg to be seen on the largest and loudest screen possible, have yet to be added to the Academy Screening Room, a placement that costs $20,000 (albeit with a discount available to lower-budget productions). But while the ASR got off to a slow start this year, the other contenders are all now available for members to view, even if they don’t want to head to theaters or screening rooms during the holidays.
Films do not have to pay to be in the ASR in order to qualify for Oscar consideration. In January, the Academy will release its Reminder List of Eligible Productions, which will no doubt include significantly more films than are in the ASR. After the nominations are announced, all nominees are placed on the platform, regardless of whether they have paid.
The 178 films currently in the screening room include more than 40 documentaries, about two-thirds of the 27 films eligible for Best Animated Feature and a dozen of the 92 entries in the Oscars Best International Feature Film category. In those three areas, films are placed into special category-specific screening rooms for no charge, but they can also pay to reach more voters – particularly if, like international films like “Decision to Leave” and “Corsage” or animated features like “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” they may pick up votes in other categories.
The flood of contenders into the screening room began in earnest just before Thanksgiving, the typical time when studios begin flooding voters with screeners or screening links to take advantage of free time before the holidays.
On Nov. 18, the Friday before Thanksgiving, additions to the ASR included “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Tar,” “The Woman King” and “The Batman,” as well as Pixar’s “Turning Red” and the acclaimed indie “Aftersun.” Four days later, on the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, they were joined by a smaller batch of new additions, including “Amsterdam,” “Bros,” “The Good Nurse,” “The Inspection” and “The Son.”
(That batch was unusual because it came on a Wednesday; new additions are normally made to the screening room on Fridays.)
On Dec. 2, a larger groups of new films included “Causeway,” “The Eternal Daughter,” “She Said,” the Indian smash “RRR” and the year’s top-grossing animated film, “Minions: The Rise of Gru.” Dec. 9, which fell just prior to the start of shortlist voting, brought the most impressive slate of contenders: “The Fabelmans,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “Women Talking,” “Bardo,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Bones and All,” “Pinocchio,” “Living,” “Triangle of Sadness” and the Will Smith vehicle “Emancipation” were all included. And Dec. 16 added “Empire of Light,” “A Man Called Otto,” “The Whale” and an unusual entry, “Jackass Forever.”
Here is the complete list of films available in the main Academy Screening Room as of Dec. 19.
“Aftershock” (documentary)
“Aftersun”
“Alice, Darling”
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (international)
“All That Breathes” (documentary)
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (documentary)
“All the Old Knives”
“The Almond and the Seahorse”
“Amsterdam”
“Apollo 10 ½” (animated)
“Argentina, 1985” (international)
“Armageddon Time”
“Athena”
“The Automat” (documentary)
“Bad Guys” (animated)
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Few Truths” (international)
“The Batman”
“Beba” (documentary)
“Bitterbrush” (documentary)
“Black Adam”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“Blonde”
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” (animated)
“Bones and All”
“Breaking”
“Brian and Charles”
“Bros”
“Bruiser”
“Call Jane”
“Catherine Called Birdy”
“Causeway”
“Cha Cha Real Smooth”
“Charlotte” (animated)
“Close” (international)
“The Corridors of Power” (documentary)
“Corsage” (international)
“DC League of Super Pets” (animated)
“Dead for a Dollar”
“Death on the Nile”
“Descendant” (documentary)
“Decision to Leave” (international)
“Devotion”
“Doctor Strange”
“Dog”
“Don’t Worry Darling”
“Downton Abbey: A New Era”
“Elvis”
“Emancipation”
“Emergency”
“Emily”
“Emily the Criminal”
“Empire of Light”
“EO” (international)
“The Eternal Daughter”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“The Exiles” (documentary)
“The Fabelmans”
“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”
“Fire of Love” (documentary)
“Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” (documentary)
“Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” (documentary)
“Gangubai Kathiawadi”
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”
“Good Night Oppy” (documentary)
“The Good Nurse”
“The Greatest Beer Run Ever”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (animated)
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” (documentary)
“Holy Spider” (international)
“Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul”
“Hunt”
“Hustle”
“In-Uoh” (animated)
“The Inspection”
“Is That Black Enough for You?!?” (documentary)
“Isle of Hope”
“Jacir”
“Jackass Forever”
“The Janes” (documentary)
“A Jazzman’s Blues”
“Jurassic World: Dominion”
“Killing Me Softly With His Songs” (documentary)
“Lady Chatterly’s Lover”
“Last Film Show” (international)
“Last Flight Home” (documentary)
“Lightyear” (animated)
“Living”
“Loren & Rose”\
“Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” (documentary)
“A Love Song”
“Luck” (animated)
“Mad God” (animated)
“A Man Called Otto”
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (animated)
“Marry Me”
“Master”
“The Menu”
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” (animated)
“Mr. Malcolm’s List”
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”
“Montana Story”
“Moonage Daydream” (documentary)
“My Father’s Dragon” (animated)
“My Policeman”
“Nanny”
“Navalny” (documentary)
“Neptune Frost”
“Nitram”
“No Bears”
“Nope”
“The Northman”
“Nothing Compares” (documentary)
“Nothing Lasts Forever” (documentary)
“On the Come Up”
“One Fine Morning”
“The Outfit”
“The Pale Blue Eyes”
“Pearl”
“Puss ‘N Boots: Last Wish” (animated)
“The Quiet Girl” (international)
“Raymond and Ray”
“Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story”
“Retrograde” (documentary)
“The Return of Tanya Tucker Featuring Brandi Carlile” (documentary)
“Return to Seoul” (international)
“Riotsville, U.S.A.” (documentary)
“Roald Dahl’s Matilda”
“RRR”
“Sea Beast” (animated)
“Saint Omer” (international)
“Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams” (documentary)
“2nd Chance” (documentary)
“Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” (documentary)
“She Said”
“Sidney” (documentary)
“Silent Twins”
“Sirens” (documentary)
“The Son”
“Spirited”
“Sr.” (documentary)
“Strange World” (animated)
“Stutz” (documentary)
“The Swimmers”
“Tar”
“Tell It Like a Woman”
“The Territory” (documentary)
“Three Minutes—A Lengthening” (documentary)
“Thirteen Lives”
“Thor: Love and Thunder”
“Three Thousand Years of Longing”
“Till”
“To Leslie”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Tree of Life: Pittsburgh Synagogue Attack” (documentary)
“Triangle of Sadness”
“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” (documentary)
“Turning Red” (animated)
“2020: Chaos and Hope”
“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
“The UnRedacted (Jihad Rehab)” (documentary)
“Vengeance”
“The Voice of Dust and Ash” (documentary)
“Wake Up”
“We Are Art” (documentary)
“Wendell and Wild” (animated)
“The Whale”
“Where the Crawdads Sing”
“White Noise”
“Wildcat” (documentary)
“The Woman King”
“Women Talking”
“The Wonder”
“X”
“You Won’t Be Alone”
