By Will Mavity 

​Winning an Oscar can be a career or even a life-changing event for some. But for most of this year's winners, the day after Oscar night also means just going back to work the next day. Nearly every Oscar winner is already booked for an upcoming project.

Here is what this year's Oscar winners are up to next...

By Matt Neglia 

Justin Kurzel has become one of Australia's leading filmmakers delivering memorable films such as "Macbeth" and "The True History Of The Kelly Gang." His latest film, "Nitram," captures a dark moment in modern Australian history pertaining to gun violence and mental health. The film had its world premiere at last year's Cannes Film Festival and has since gone on to win the Best Actor prize for its star Caleb Landry Jones and eight AACTA awards, including Best Film & Best Director. Justin was kind enough to take a few minutes to discuss what drew him to the project, working with Landry Jones, what he hopes audiences will take away from the film, and more. Please take a listen down below and enjoy!

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, Player FM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear and want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Daniel Howat 

As one Oscar season ends, another begins. We're three months into 2022, so it's time for our way-too-early Oscar predictions for 2022. It's never too soon to dive into the potential contenders for the year and analyze how they might factor into the race. Of course, being nearly a full year until the Oscars, think of this more as a guide of films to keep an eye on rather than legitimate predictions. Still, it's always fun to see how close we could get this far out. Check out our early 2021 predictions here.

Before listing my official predictions, please take a look at the dozens of contenders we're keeping an eye on as we journey toward the 95th Academy Awards. Remember that plenty of films are not yet on our radar this far out. For instance, I anticipate at least one non-English language film in the eventual Best Picture lineup, but it's more challenging to know what those contenders are at this point. The same goes for smaller independent films from newer filmmakers that will hopefully break out at the fall festivals. Still, there are several films from established filmmakers competing for awards this year, and these are just some of the films we'll anticipate along the way.

​By Robert Dougherty 

​Countless words will be written about how "CODA" pulled off its heartwarming Best Picture victory and about how it is the most unprecedented winner of our lifetime. Almost every statistic that had held over the last 80 or so years would back that up, as movies that only get three overall nominations, no below-the-line nominations, and no DGA nomination could never even come close to winning Best Picture until this moment. But in another context, a win for a film like "CODA" over a film like "The Power of the Dog" is somewhat right on schedule.

By Tom O'Brien 

Much has already been written about the remarkable journey "CODA" has taken from its January 2021 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival to its Best Picture win at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night. With "CODA's" victory, the book of Oscar statistics that many of us prognosticators cling to every year when making our predictions has been thoroughly stomped on and thrown out the car window. For example, it's the first film in nearly 90 years to win Best Picture with no nominations in below-the-line categories. With the exception of "Birdman," "CODA" is the first film in over 40 years to win without a Best Film Editing nomination and its first in over 30 years to win without its director not receiving a nomination from the Directors Guild of America. Just amazing.

But that's all about "CODA's" past. Looking forward, what of "CODA's" future? Here are five significant takeaways that I think we can draw from "CODA's" Best Picture win.

By Matt Neglia 

Oscar Producer Will Packer promised us an unforgettable 94th Academy Awards ceremony, which certainly was, but not for the reasons he intended. Nicole Ackman, Josh Parham, Zoe Rose Bryant, Dan Bayer, Eve O'Dea & Daniel Howat all joined me to discuss the predictable winners for what was an unpredictable evening. We go over the musical numbers, the controversial decision to hand out eight categories before the live ceremony, the hosts, the slap heard around the world, and more. Please take a listen down below, and a huge shoutout to all of the fans who have supported us through another awards season. Thank you, and enjoy!

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, Player FM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear and want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Matt Neglia 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners for the 94th Academy Awards.
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​Click below to see the winners from tonight's show.

By Will Mavity 

​When Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog" was nominated for twelve Academy Awards on Oscar nomination morning, it exceeded most pundits' wildest expectations. Not only did it secure nominations in obvious categories like Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, it also landed surprise nominations in categories like Best Production Design and surprise double Best Supporting Actor nominations. Meanwhile, "Belfast," the film many had pegged as the "The Power of the Dog's" most significant threat, underperformed missing nominations for Caitriona Balfe in Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. Nothing else overperformed. "King Richard" did not manage surprise nominations like Best Original Score or Best Supporting Actor for Jon Bernthal. "Licorice Pizza," "Dune," "Don't Look Up," and "West Side Story" got as many nominations as expected or fewer nominations than expected. "CODA" barely registered, only receiving nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor. Surely, these were not the signs of a threat to win Best Picture.

By Matt Neglia 
​
For our main podcast review this week, I am joined by Dan Bayer, Will Mavity & guest ​Kevin Lee. Today, we're discussing the newest film from Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (otherwise known as "Daniels"), "Everything Everywhere All At Once," starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr. & Jamie Lee Curtis. A highly original, truly bizarre multiverse movie with action, comedy, and a surprisingly emotional thoughtful rumination on life, relationships, and our unlimited potential, there's so much to talk about with this one. Tune in below to find out what we thought of it in our SPOILER-FILLED review, and enjoy!

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, Player FM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear and want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Zoe Rose Bryant 

Every year, as Oscar obsessives push back against the implementation of preposterous adjustments or additions to the ceremony, express their concern about populist pictures potentially crowding out underseen but more artistically audacious indies, or simply profess their passion for their personal picks and predictions in contentious categories, they're often met with the same condescending question from casual onlookers: "Why do you care so much?" In truth, to someone outside the Oscar blogger sphere - and the entire cinephile community - it's easy to see why the Oscars might not be a top priority. With the world currently engulfed in war and prejudiced politicians launching more attacks on the LGBTQ+ community with every passing day, it may seem that there are more important topics to exert energy into.

By Matt Neglia

​The 94th Academy Awards are this Sunday. After reading and listening to our predictions, all that's left now is for you to tell us what you think is going to win this Sunday. Click below to enter into our contest to predict the 2022 Oscars. All categories must be predicted with the submission deadline being the day of the awards right before the ceremony begins. The winner will receive one of the Best Picture nominees of their choosing on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray or DVD (Sorry, but this only applies to U.S. entries only).

Click below to enter in your picks for the contest and to see the Next Best Picture team's final Oscar winner predictions. 

​Best of luck and enjoy the show!

By Matt Neglia

​It's finally here. The 94th Academy Awards will be held this Sunday on ABC. I'm sorry my series of Predicting The Winners Of The 94th Academy Awards articles could not go up in time this year. I've been busier than I've ever been in my entire life, both with the site and my personal life, and writing such in-depth analysis is such a time commitment. For my full thoughts on all 23 categories, I highly urge you to listen to our over 4-hour-long podcast we released on Sunday discussing our final predictions with my brilliant team. For now, this will be a general summary of my final predictions. So let's dive in!

By Matt Neglia 

We've seen your picks for this year's Oscars, and now, it's time for the Next Best Picture team to reveal or own! We may not be actual voters, but we take the nominees seriously, as we make sure to see all of the nominees every year. Each member of the NBP team filled out their "If I voted for the Oscars" fantasy ballot, and the results can be found below. For a true blast from the past, check out our choices for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Academy Awards. The votes were tabulated in the same manner as the actual Academy Awards - Best Picture was decided using a ranked preferential ballot, and all other categories went to the nominee with the most votes.

And the (imaginary) Oscar goes to...

By Will Mavity & Matt Neglia 

Oscar voting is officially over for the 94th Academy Awards, and now we are just waiting for the awards to be handed out this Sunday. Matt and I spoke to several Academy voters about what they are voting for and why.
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Here is what 8 of them have to say...

By Matt Neglia 

Academy Award-winner Jane Campion is set to have a big weekend as her latest film, "The Power Of The Dog," is heading into Oscar Sunday with a leading twelve nominations, and many are expecting the New Zealand-born director to win her first Oscar for Best Director. However, back in 1993, she made a huge splash with her beautifully haunting film "The Piano," starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill & Anna Paquin. Becoming the first woman ever to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, the film would also earn two additional Academy Awards for Best Actress (Holly Hunter) and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin, who was only eleven at the time). What did we think of the film, revisiting it all of these years later? What did we think of the themes, characters, music, cinematography, and its awards season run? Nicole Ackman, Casey Lee Clark & Danilo Castro join me to discuss all of these points and more in our review down below. Please check out the Criterion Collection's recent gorgeous 4K UHD restoration of the film; listen down below and enjoy!

​This is a preview of the podcast. The full version is only available to those who subscribe to us on Patreon. For the small price of $1 a month, you can receive this podcast along with other exclusive podcast content, so be sure to subscribe here.

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Matt Neglia 

The Casting Society of America (CSA) have announced their winners representing the best in casting for 2021, otherwise known as the Artios Awards.

Click below to see the winners.

By Ryan O'Toole 

​​Ariana Debose has won the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA, and SAG awards for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of "West Side Story." She is now the odds-on favorite to win the Oscar, and if she were to win, she would be the second person to win for playing the character of Anita after Rita Moreno won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing the same role sixty years ago in the 1961 Best Picture-winning "West Side Story."

Anita would join the hallowed halls of movie characters who have won multiple Oscars. Obviously, actors get nominated and win multiple Oscars all the time, but the characters they play sometimes get that same honor and receive multiple nominations. It is a feat that has happened sporadically across the ninety-four years of the Academy. Here is a comprehensive history of all the times a character has been nominated multiple times at the Oscars.

By Matt Neglia 
​
​When Oscar voting started last week, we asked you all to imagine yourself as Academy members, with Oscar ballots in hand, and cast your own choices for who you'd want to see prevail at the 94th Academy Awards this Sunday. Over 1600 of you voted in the short time span, and the results have been calculated down below. We used preferential balloting for Best Picture, and all of the other categories were done using a plural voting system. Will any of these translate on Oscar night?

Take a look down below to see your picks. Please take a listen to the Next Best Picture team's predictions on the podcast and stay tuned for our own final predictions and preferred winners later this week.

By Robert Dougherty 

​With one fell swoop cast by the Producers Guild of America, "The Power of the Dog" lost its Best Picture lead that it had built since September 2021 all in one night. Now with just days to recover before the Oscars on March 27th, all the momentum and all the storybook Cinderella narratives are in "CODA's" favor, despite its historic disadvantages elsewhere. Yet despite having just three Oscar nominations, no DGA nomination, and almost no Best Picture wins of any kind until this final stretch, "CODA" has now turned "The Power of the Dog" into the last-minute underdog of this race. However, if "CODA" could really win Best Picture in a way that nothing else has in modern history, then "The Power of the Dog" winning after a PGA loss on a preferential ballot doesn't seem so unbelievable. In fact, there is much more recent precedent for a Best Picture winner to rebound from a PGA loss, even if it hasn't happened that often in this era.

By Cody Dericks 

After a bit of a hiatus during the film awards season, the Next Best Theatre team is back to reflect on the 2021 film year and all of the movie musicals it brought us. We discuss eight films in total, ranging from very poor to near-masterpiece levels of greatness. Joining me for this wholesome discussion are ​ Nicole Ackman, Dan Bayer, Lauren LaMagna, and Casey Lee Clark. We hope you enjoy it!

This is a preview of the podcast, the full version of which is only available to those who subscribe to us on Patreon. For the small price of $1 a month, you can receive this review along with other exclusive podcast content, so be sure to subscribe here.

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, Player FM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear and want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Mitchell Horwood 

​The phrase "Licorice Pizza" refers to the name of a defunct record store chain that existed in the 70s era of Southern California. But it's also the title of Paul Thomas Anderson's newest offbeat, witty, and vaguely seductive movie, nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Like the chain, this retro time capsule is a valentine to an era frequently remembered by the "corrupt" values of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and the restlessness of youth looking for life in all the wrong places. In this regard, it's both a love letter to Paul Thomas Anderson's past and his most personal film yet.

By Cody Dericks 

Just when people started to complain about this year's Oscar race being boring, the Producers Guild Awards decided to shake things up this past weekend. After dominating the season by winning Best Picture at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Critics Choice Awards, Oscar nomination leader "The Power Of The Dog" hit a major stumbling block by losing the PGA to the indie sensation "CODA." The PGAs have historically been one of the more accurate predictors of Oscar success, so surely this means "CODA" has Best Picture in the bag, right? Not so fast.

By Lauren LaMagna 

​The time has come: Oscar voting for the 94th Academy Awards is in full swing. As we speak, members of the Academy are filling in their ballots and ultimately deciding who will be taking home the golden statue on March 27th. At this point in the race, there are frontrunners, underdogs, and tight races. There are even some locks. But, nothing is 100% certain until the final envelope is read. This year, there are loads of fantastic films nominated for an array of awards. One of those films is "The Worst Person In The World," which is nominated in two categories – Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film.

By Tom O'Brien 

When it comes to Oscar prognostications, I'm basically a stats guy. I rely heavily on the endless parade of pre-Oscar precursor awards that usually point in the direction of the eventual Oscar winner. But there's one category this year where the statistics and the favorite don't quite add up for me: Best Animated Feature.

By Amy Smith 

Last year, the Best Picture lineup and eventual winner "Nomadland" highlighted the strengths of filmmaking during the pandemic era. Not only did the themes of films such as "Nomadland" relate to the isolation and loneliness that people went through during that year, but the films that were nominated mainly were independent films filled with personal stories. In a standard Oscar year, you would not see the likes of "Sound of Metal" or "Minari" cracking the Best Picture lineup. However, with theaters reopening in 2021, this is the year to honor the blockbuster and celebrate the cinematic experience. While some may say that it was the return of franchise films like James Bond's "No Time to Die" and the MCU's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" that got people back to the big screen, it can be argued that it is Best Picture contender "Dune" that celebrates the art of going to the movies and spending nearly three hours immersed in intense storytelling and spectacular visuals.