Streaming Oscar nominations for 2023
Back in the day, I used to watch almost every big movie that came out. Life has changed since then, and I was looking at the list of 120 nominations that were just released that make up the main telecast. Of the 120 nominations across the 23 categories, even if I was in the industry and got a ballot card, I couldn’t have voted — I actually haven’t seen ANY of them. Yet. And every year, someone complains that the voting process is obviously flawed as many voters in the industry have not, in fact, seen all of the movies. There’s just too many, of course. Seems obvious at first blush.
But I was wondering today how many are available for streaming already and if I could watch SOME of them at least before the telecast. As I was searching through the list, I didn’t want to check availability of a movie more than once, so I did a quick spreadsheet and coloured coded movies that showed up more than once. I noticed some interesting things that I might not have noticed without the aid of a spreadsheet.
Of the long list of best picture nominees (10 instead of the long ago list of only 5), the not-surprising carry-over is that they also qualify for multiple other awards. No surprise, as I said, because, of course, if it had a good director, actor, actress, screenplay, score, or any of the other 22 categories, it had a better-than-average chance to rise up to the level of being a best picture nominee. Makes sense, right? And every year, the release of nominees includes “counts” as to how many categories the top nominee covers. 14 for this movie, only 7 for that one. So you know there is SOME repetition, of course.
But what DID surprise me is that even for just the 10 best picture nominees, they account for 71 nominations out of the 120 nominees in total. 10 pictures cover 60% of the night. And when you eliminate the ones they weren’t even eligible for (animated, documentary, shorts), that rises to 75% of the nominations. So with just watching 10 movies, a lot for some people, you could cover a huge swath of the ballot.
In fact, you would cover:
- Best picture — all of them
- Best director — all of them
- Best actor — all but one (Colman Domingo for Rustin)
- Best actress — all but one (Annette Bening for Nyad)
- Best supporting actor — all of them
- Best supporting actress — all but two (Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple and Jodie Foster for Nyad)
- Best original screenplay — all but one (May December)
- Best adapted screenplay — all of them
- Best cinematography — all but one (El Conde)
- Best costume design — all but one (Napoleon)
- Best makeup and hairstyling — all but two (Golda and Society of the Snow)
- Best original song — all but two (from Flamin’ Hot and American Symphony)
- Best original score — all but one (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny)
- Best production design — all but one (Napoleon)
- Best film editing — all of them
- Best sound — all but two (The Creator and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part I
- Best visual effects — none of the five but only two aren’t covered already by the previous additions
What does that mean? It means if you take the 10 best picture nominees, add in Rustin, Nyad, The Color Purple, May December, El Conde, Napoleon, Golda, Society of the Snow, Flamin’ Hot and American Symphony, plus the other four that are visual effects (Napoleon plus Creator, Godzilla, Mission: Impossible, Guardians of the Galaxy), you get all 95 of the main nominees in just 10 + 10 + 4 = 24 movies. Sure, the animated and docs and shorts don’t have a lot of overlaps, almost 25 there too but it wouldn’t really be fair to suggest it’s covering 50 movies. Not really.
I find it particularly telling that if you JUST use the top four categories, you’d get to 12 movies; add in supporting, it jumps to 13 movies; and 14 would cover everything down to cinematography plus film editing. That’s almost doable in a month if you were hardcore.
Hence my curiosity as to what is available in streaming format at the moment. I looked them up on JustWatch.com to see what was available and what wasn’t…If they were available with a subscription, I said “Apple”, “Netflix”, “Prime”, “Disney”, “Crave”, “Paramount”. If they were available only to buy or rent, I added a $ after each one. Here is the full list, if interested.
Award | Movie | Apple | Netflix | Prime | Disney | Other | Nominee |
Best Picture | American Fiction | — | — | — | — | — | American Fiction (Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers) |
Best Picture | Anatomy of a Fall | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Anatomy of a Fall (Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers) |
Best Picture | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers) | ||
Best Picture | The Holdovers | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | The Holdovers (Mark Johnson, Producer) |
Best Picture | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers) |
Best Picture | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers) |
Best Picture | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers) |
Best Picture | Past Lives | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Past Lives (David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers) | |||
Best Picture | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers) |
Best Picture | The Zone of Interest | — | — | — | — | — | The Zone of Interest (James Wilson, Producer) |
Best Directing | Anatomy of a Fall | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall) |
Best Directing | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) |
Best Directing | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) |
Best Directing | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) |
Best Directing | The Zone of Interest | — | — | — | — | — | Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest) |
Best Actor in a Leading Role | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Bradley Cooper (Maestro) |
Best Actor in a Leading Role | Rustin | Netflix | Colman Domingo (Rustin) | ||||
Best Actor in a Leading Role | The Holdovers | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) |
Best Actor in a Leading Role | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) |
Best Actor in a Leading Role | American Fiction | — | — | — | — | — | Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) |
Best Actress in a Leading Role | Nyad | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Annette Bening (Nyad) |
Best Actress in a Leading Role | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) |
Best Actress in a Leading Role | Anatomy of a Fall | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) |
Best Actress in a Leading Role | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Carey Mulligan (Maestro) |
Best Actress in a Leading Role | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Emma Stone (Poor Things) |
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | American Fiction | — | — | — | — | — | Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) |
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon) |
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) |
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | Ryan Gosling (Barbie) | ||
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things) |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | The Color Purple | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | America Ferrera (Barbie) | ||
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Nyad | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Jodie Foster (Nyad) |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | The Holdovers | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) |
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) | American Fiction | — | — | — | — | — | American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson) |
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach) | ||
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan) |
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara) |
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) | The Zone of Interest | — | — | — | — | — | The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer) |
Best Writing (Original Screenplay) | Anatomy of a Fall | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari) |
Best Writing (Original Screenplay) | The Holdovers | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson) |
Best Writing (Original Screenplay) | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer) |
Best Writing (Original Screenplay) | May December | — | Netflix | — | — | — | May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik) |
Best Writing (Original Screenplay) | Past Lives | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Past Lives (Written by Celine Song) | |||
Best Animated Feature | The Boy and the Heron | — | — | — | — | — | The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki) |
Best Animated Feature | Elemental | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | Disney | — | Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream) |
Best Animated Feature | Nimona | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary) |
Best Animated Feature | Robot Dreams | — | — | — | — | — | Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz) |
Best Animated Feature | Spider-Man | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal) | |||
Best Documentary Feature Film | Bobi Wine | — | — | — | Disney | — | Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek) |
Best Documentary Feature Film | Eternal Memory | — | — | — | — | — | The Eternal Memory (Nominees to be determined) |
Best Documentary Feature Film | Four Daughters | — | — | — | — | — | Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha) |
Best Documentary Feature Film | To Kill A Tiger | — | — | — | — | NFB | To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim) |
Best Documentary Feature Film | 20 Days in Mariupol | — | — | — | — | Google $ | 20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath) |
Best International Feature Film | Io Capitano | — | — | — | — | — | Io Capitano (Italy) |
Best International Feature Film | Perfect Days | — | — | — | — | — | Perfect Days (Japan) |
Best International Feature Film | Society of the Snow | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Society of the Snow (Spain) |
Best International Feature Film | The Teacher’s Lounge | — | — | — | — | — | The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany) |
Best International Feature Film | The Zone of Interest | — | — | — | — | — | The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom) |
Best Animated Short Film | Letter to a Pig | — | — | — | — | — | Letter to a Pig (Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter) |
Best Animated Short Film | Ninety-Five Senses | — | — | — | — | — | Ninety-Five Senses (Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess) |
Best Animated Short Film | Our Uniform | — | — | — | — | — | Our Uniform (Yegane Moghaddam) |
Best Animated Short Film | Pachyderme | — | — | — | — | — | Pachyderme (Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius) |
Best Animated Short Film | War is Over! | — | — | — | — | — | War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (Dave Mullins and Brad Booker) |
Best Live-Action Short Film | The After | — | Netflix | — | — | — | The After (Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham) |
Best Live-Action Short Film | Invincible | — | — | — | — | — | Invincible (Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron) |
Best Live-Action Short Film | Night of Fortune | — | — | — | — | — | Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjaer Noer and Christian Norlyk) |
Best Live-Action Short Film | Red, White and Blue | — | — | — | — | — | Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane) |
Best Live-Action Short Film | The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar | — | Netflix | — | — | — | The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales) |
Best Documentary Short Film | The ABCs of Book Banning | — | — | — | — | Paramount | The ABCs of Book Banning (Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic) |
Best Documentary Short Film | The Barber of Little Rock | — | — | — | — | — | The Barber of Little Rock (John Hoffman and Christine Turner) |
Best Documentary Short Film | Island In Between | — | — | — | — | — | Island in Between (S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien) |
Best Documentary Short Film | The Last Repair Shop | — | — | — | Disney | — | The Last Repair Shop (Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers) |
Best Documentary Short Film | Nai Nai & Wai Po | — | — | — | — | — | Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Sean Wang and Sam Davis) |
Best Cinematography | El Conde | — | Netflix | — | — | — | El Conde (Edward Lachman) |
Best Cinematography | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto) |
Best Cinematography | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Maestro (Matthew Libatique) |
Best Cinematography | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema) |
Best Cinematography | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Robbie Ryan) |
Best Costume Design | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | Barbie (Jacqueline Durran) | ||
Best Costume Design | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Killers of the Flower Moon (Jacqueline West) |
Best Costume Design | Napoleon | — | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Napoleon (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman) |
Best Costume Design | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Ellen Mirojnick) |
Best Costume Design | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Holly Waddington) |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Golda | Apple $ | — | Amazon | — | — | Golda (Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue) |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Maestro (Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell) |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Luisa Abel) |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston) |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Society of the Snow | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Society of the Snow (Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé) |
Best Original Song | Flamin’ Hot | — | — | — | Disney | — | “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren) |
Best Original Song | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt) | ||
Best Original Song | American Symphony | — | Netflix | — | — | — | “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony (Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson) |
Best Original Song | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon (Music and Lyric by Scott George) |
Best Original Song | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell) | ||
Best Original Score | American Fiction | — | — | — | — | — | American Fiction (Laura Karpman) |
Best Original Score | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | Disney | — | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams) |
Best Original Score | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson) |
Best Original Score | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Ludwig Göransson) |
Best Original Score | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Jerskin Fendrix) |
Best Production Design | Barbie | Apple $ | Amazon $ | Crave | Barbie (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer) | ||
Best Production Design | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Killers of the Flower Moon (Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis) |
Best Production Design | Napoleon | — | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Napoleon (Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff) |
Best Production Design | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman) |
Best Production Design | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek) |
Best Film Editing | Anatomy of a Fall | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Anatomy of a Fall (Laurent Sénéchal) |
Best Film Editing | The Holdovers | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | The Holdovers (Kevin Tent) |
Best Film Editing | Killers of the Flower Moon | Apple | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Killers of the Flower Moon (Thelma Schoonmaker) |
Best Film Editing | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame) |
Best Film Editing | Poor Things | — | — | — | — | — | Poor Things (Yorgos Mavropsaridis) |
Best Sound | The Creator | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | Disney | — | The Creator (Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic) |
Best Sound | Maestro | — | Netflix | — | — | — | Maestro (Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic) |
Best Sound | Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | Paramount | Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One (Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor) |
Best Sound | Oppenheimer | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Oppenheimer (Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell) |
Best Sound | The Zone of Interest | — | — | — | — | — | The Zone of Interest (Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn) |
Best Visual Effects | The Creator | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | Disney | — | The Creator (Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould) |
Best Visual Effects | Godzilla: Minus One | — | — | — | — | — | Godzilla: Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima) |
Best Visual Effects | The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 | Apple $ | — | — | Disney | — | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek) |
Best Visual Effects | Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning | Apple $ | — | Amazon $ | — | Paramount | Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One (Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould) |
Best Visual Effects | Napoleon | — | — | Amazon $ | — | — | Napoleon (Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould) |
So, where does that leave me? Of the 53 overall titles in the long list…
Available to watch with a subscription to a specific streaming service (23)
- The ABCs of Book Banning
- The After
- American Symphony
- Barbie
- Bobi Wine
- El Conde
- The Creator
- Elemental
- Flamin’ Hot
- Golda
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Last Repair Shop
- Maestro
- May December
- Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning
- Nimona
- Nyad
- Rustin
- Society of the Snow
- To Kill A Tiger
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Available to buy or rent online (8)
- 20 Days in Mariupol
- Anatomy of a Fall
- The Color Purple
- The Holdovers
- Napoleon
- Oppenheimer
- Past Lives
- Spider-Man
Not available to stream (22)
- American Fiction
- The Barber of Little Rock
- The Boy and the Heron
- Eternal Memory
- Four Daughters
- Godzilla: Minus One
- Invincible
- Io Capitano
- Island In Between
- Letter to a Pig
- Nai Nai & Wai Po
- Night of Fortune
- Ninety-Five Senses
- Our Uniform
- Pachyderme
- Perfect Days
- Poor Things
- Red, White and Blue
- Robot Dreams
- The Teacher’s Lounge
- War is Over!
- The Zone of Interest
I found it interesting making the spreadsheet. My impression was that there were WAY more that were available to rent or buy online than already free through a subscription service. Except that certain movies over-represented early because almost ALL of the ones available ANYWHERE are ALSO available on Apple or Amazon for rent or buy…they just happen to ALSO be available if you already have a subscription.
For the ones that are not available ANYWHERE, a large number of them are short or animated or documentaries, or some combination therein. I thought they might be available on YouTube, but not yet. I set up some alerts to let me know if/when they show up on a streaming service.
Okay then, my list is set.