When it comes to awards recognition, there are no guarantees that even the biggest movies will not be left wanting against some unexpected competition. Such is the case ofAnora,the $6 million budgeted movie that beat the incredible list ofWicked, The Substance, A Complete Unknown, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, Nickel Boys, Conclave, The Brutalist, andSing Singto win the Best Picture Award at the Critics Choice Awards.
In one of the biggest shocks of the night,the independent releaseproved that a near $200 million budget means nothing when it comes to impressing awards panels, and the result left directorSean Bakergobsmacked when the movie was read out. In his acceptance speech, Baker said:
“So unexpected. So unexpected. Thank you. Critics' Choice, thank you so much. When those who dedicate their lives to their love of film and film criticism and film journalism, they see something positive in your work, it means everything in the world. Thank you guys so, so much. We made this little film. It was $6 million. That’s micro budget these days. We shot on film. We shot in New York City. And that all happened because of my incredible cast and crew who roughed it up and we put every dollar up on that screen.”
‘Anora’s Director Knows the Importance of Supporting Theaters
In a time when streaming is often given more attention than theatrical releases, Baker went on to praiseAnora’sdistributor, Neon, who took the chance on putting the film out in theaters, and emphasized how theaters really need the support of anyone who loves movies. He continued:
“And it’s because, you know, independent film, we have to go for it. We have to go for it to stay on the big screen. And that’s what I want to say. We made this film for the big screen. We thank everybody who saw it on the big screen. We want to thank Neon because they supported our theatrical run, a long theatrical window. And we have to think about the theaters. That’s where we all fell in love with the movies, at the movie theater. They’re going through hard times. We lost a thousand theaters during COVID. We lose them almost daily. There’s where we love to see films. Let’s see films in our local theaters.”
Anora Star Mikey Madison Shares the Concerns She Crushed Making the Year’s Most Celebrated Film
Mikey Madison discusses her Palme d’Or winner Anora and the worries that she overcame to give one of the year’s best performances.
There have been several controversies in the last few years about movies being green-lit with the belief they would be seen on the big screen, only for a late-in-the-day pivot by the distributor sending the movie direct to streaming instead. This included Jake Gyllenhaal’s remake ofRoad House, which annoyed both its star and director, Doug Liman, after it was claimed they both lost out on a lot of money due to the switch. A similar case sawScarlet Johansson sue Disney over the mid-Covid release ofBlack Widowon Disney+ rather than waiting until it could be shown in cinemas. However, there have been some success stories of streaming movies being turned into box office hits, such asEvil Dead Rise, Barbarian, andThe Boogeyman, which were all upgraded after initial test screenings.
