With over 300 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix is the biggest name in the world of streaming, but the company is still chasing Hollywood’s top honour: the Oscar for Best Picture. Although Netflix hasn’t won Best Picture, it’s come close several times; in fact, the studio received the most Oscar nominations out of any studio at the recent Academy Awards ceremony.
While speaking with Variety, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was asked if he’s disappointed that Netflix has yet to win an Oscar for Best Picture. “It’s hard for me to say, ‘Do they have it out for Netflix?’ when we’ve been the most-nominated studio for the past three years,” Sarandos said. “There’s something about [the Academy] — you nominate the movies that you respect and admire, and you vote for best picture for the movie that you love. We have to make a movie that people love.“
Netflix’s Emilia Pérez received 13 nominations (including one for Best Picture), but some believe that Karla Sofía Gascón’s social media controversy did serious damage to the campaign, but Sarandos doesn’t want to dwell on what-ifs. “I hate that question, because it creates all of these what-if’s,” he said. “It was the frontrunner, but it was never a slam dunk that ‘Emilia Pérez’ — with all its innovation and thrills — would win best picture. It was a great movie, a great campaign, and I’m bummed we had all that what-if’s thrown at us.” It’s hard to say whether Gascón’s social media posts cost Netflix the Best Picture Oscar, but Sarandos said he would work with Gascón again. “Yeah,” Sarandos said. “You have to have some grace when people make mistakes, and we have grace.“
The streaming service has received plenty of nominations for Best Picture over the years, with Roma, The Irishman, Marriage Story, Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Don’t Look Up, The Power of the Dog, All Quiet on the Western Front, Maestro, and Emilia Pérez each picking up nods for the top prize. Roma and All Quiet on the Western Front did win Best Foreign Language Film.
Should any of Netflix’s movies that were nominated for Best Picture have won?
