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Today we’re taking a short break from your regularly scheduled roasting of the New England Patriots to talk about the Oscars nominations that were announced yesterday. I am the culture writer around these parts, and the Oscars are my jam, so today it’s an all-Oscars SigDig.
1
Amazon’s “Manchester by the Sea” became the first-ever film produced by a digital streaming service to be nominated for best picture. Netflix has had some success attracting awards attention, but primarily in the documentary category. [The Hollywood Reporter]
6 films
Yesterday a total of nine films were nominated for best picture: “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Fences,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Arrival,” “Lion,” “Hell or High Water” and “Hidden Figures.” Director Martin Scorsese probably isn’t thrilled: bookmakers gave his film “Silence” better odds of winning best picture than the latter six of those nominated films. [FiveThirtyEight]
14 nominations
“La La Land” has tied the record for total Oscar nominations set by “All About Eve” and “Titanic,” hauling in a total of 14. When it comes to lifetime acting Oscar nominations, Meryl Streep extended her record with a 20th nomination, for “Florence Foster Jenkins.” [ABC News, The AV Club]
35 percent
Percentage of this year’s acting nominees who are people of color, a welcome departure from recent years that failed to recognize diverse talent. [Variety]
84 percent
That’s the percentage of time that the winner of the Directors Guild award for best feature film direction went on to win the Academy Award for best director over the past 25 years. We use stats like that — the historical accuracy of guild and critic awards — to build our annual Oscar tracking model, which we launched yesterday. Check it out. [FiveThirtyEight]
467 minutes
“O.J.: Made In America” is 7 hours 47 minutes long, and it is now the longest film ever nominated for an Oscar. (It’s nominated for best documentary.) Full disclosure, FiveThirtyEight is owned by ESPN, which made that movie. [Variety]
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