{"id":19966,"date":"2026-02-05T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/2026\/02\/05\/from-jay-kelly-to-wicked-2-this-seasons-dizzying-array-of-oscar-winners-oscars\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:03:00","slug":"from-jay-kelly-to-wicked-2-this-seasons-dizzying-array-of-oscar-winners-oscars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/en_us\/2026\/02\/05\/from-jay-kelly-to-wicked-2-this-seasons-dizzying-array-of-oscar-winners-oscars\/","title":{"rendered":"From Jay Kelly to Wicked 2: This season’s dizzying array of Oscar winners | oscars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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L<\/span>While last year’s Oscars narrative was about the small films that could, from The Brutalist to Anora to Emilia P\u00e9rez, this year’s was closer to the opposite, with big-budget films like The Sinners, One Battle After Another, and Frankenstein all leading the way.<\/p>\n

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So it’s not so easy to explain why some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, from Julia Roberts to Dwayne Johnson, George Clooney, Emily Blunt and Adam Sandler, have been left out of the race. So here we go\u2026<\/p>\n

smashing machine<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Everett\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last fall’s Safdie vs. Safdie saw the directing duo split up to do their own thing, even if their work is loosely identical. The brothers both decided to make a sports biopic not in the way many of us traditionally expect. An A24 release, with a focus on a character many of us don’t know and more of an arc-driven vibe – and it seemed like Benny would get a more obvious award win for The Smashing Machine. He had Dwayne Johnson, a Hollywood heavyweight doing serious, transformative work that the Academy has long loved, supported Oscar-nominated Emily Blunt, and had a huge Venice Film Festival premiere complete with a 15-minute standing ovation and a tearful lead role. But the film was not only for the masses (it grossed a paltry $21 million worldwide), but it was also a movie inside baseball for critics and voters who ignored it in favor of Josh’s still unconventional but much more catchy Marty Supreme. Johnson is set to return for Jumanji 3.<\/p>\n

Smashing Machine Reviews<\/sub><\/p>\n

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After hunting<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Amazon Content Services LLC\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After both Challengers and Queer failed to sufficiently tempt the Academy, director Luca Guadagnino seemed to be on safer ground with After the Hunt, a campus-set drama with a stale twist on the #MeToo fallout. Weinstein’s reportage drama She may not have set the Oscars on fire, but the drama was led by Oscar-winning American sweetheart Julia Roberts and supported by Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri, who won the award for The Bear. It also had its premiere in Venice, and heated discussions were expected on site due to its provocative subject matter. Sadly the main question asked was how s\/he can do it? And more huh? The film was knocked out of competition almost immediately, and audiences were equally unimpressed, welcoming its New York Film Festival premiere before showing no interest in participating (its $80 million production budget didn’t even reach $10 million worldwide). Roberts may have been nominated for a Golden Globe, but her Oscar chances are underwater and Guadagnino is left out in the cold at the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

After Hunt Review<\/sub><\/p>\n

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house of dynamite<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If most reactions in Venice are to be believed, Kathryn Bigelow has nailed another slam dunk with the dank nuclear-armed thriller A House of Dynamite. Praise poured in, and considering the director’s Academy experience, it seemed like a surefire win for Netflix. He won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker before Zero Dark Thirty earned five nods. But it landed with a thud at the New York Film Festival, its infamous press screenings brought on laughs and groans, and then suddenly its chances began to slip away. Netflix eventually had a similar response, disconcerting those who wanted to watch it all, and the streamer’s overall campaign strategy began to deprioritize the film, which unsurprisingly ended up with zero nominations.<\/p>\n

House of Dynamite Review<\/sub><\/p>\n

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Deliver it to me <\/strong>anywhere<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Macall Poly\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This should have been one of the easiest wins of the season. Or at least he should have been nominated. A Bruce Springsteen biopic produced by a director who had previously guided the actor to victory (Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart), starring an impressive award-winner (Jeremy Allen White for The Bear), followed by another drama about an aging musician, promoted by the same studio (Disney), launched at a high-profile festival (Telluride), and was a critical and commercial success (A Complete Unknown). So how did Deliver Me from Nowhere fail? The film, later titled the embarrassingly IP-recognizing title Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, received polite reviews upon its release, gracious enough to suggest that White would enter the fray. But it didn’t quite give fans what they wanted (it grossed a shocking $22 million in the U.S., more than $50 million less than the Dylan biopic) and failed to transcend its well-known formula. In a year when the first Best Actor predictions were revised right after the Fall Festival, this was one of the most surprising mistakes.<\/p>\n

Deliver Me Anywhere Review<\/sub><\/p>\n

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Christy<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Eddie Chen\/Black Bear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an overly schematic strategy for Sidney Sweeney’s career, a film like Christie made perfect sense. The Euphoria breakout graduated from the small, well-reviewed talent-proving drama Reality to the glossy romantic comedy Everything But You to the final girl horror Immaculate, and, inevitably, the awards show was next. Christy took home several selections – true stories, dazzling transformations, boxing – and after its fall festival premiere in more commercially inclined Toronto, it looked like a win for Sweeney in the best actress category, which at that stage lacked a clear contender (and after the American Eagle commercial she really needed one). Initially, some were overly excited and labeled her as a contender, but the film flopped at the box office and was consigned to the history books, and some middling reviews prevented her from even getting a nod at the celebrity-hungry Golden Globes. As the competition for best actress became fiercer, she became a distant outsider.<\/p>\n

Christie Reviews<\/sub><\/p>\n

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Jay Kelly<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: BFA\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Squid and the Whale may have earned Noah Baumbach an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, but the writer-director didn’t emerge as an Academy darling. His next films, Margot and the Wedding and Greenberg, were his most poignant and pushed him further away, and Marriage Story, his most personal film and perhaps his best, suddenly made him an Oscar favorite. The film was nominated for six awards, with Laura Dern winning one, and while White Noise may have been a huge hit, Baumbach was nominated once again for her screenplay for Barbie with Greta Gerwig. With a star-studded cast led by George Clooney, a movie-making storyline, and a glittering Venice premiere, Jay Kelly seemed poised to help Baumbach earn his first Oscar and Adam Sandler his first. But reviews were mixed to the more enthusiastic (the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave it a one star rating) and Clooney’s return narrative folded. It was an old-fashioned American film that failed to impress the new, more international Academy.<\/p>\n

Jay Kelly Review<\/sub><\/p>\n

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Wicked: For Good<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Universal Pictures\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wicked may not have swept the board last year in the way many die-hard fans had hoped, but a big bet that could go away either way was still a major contender with two wins and eight nominations. It was naturally assumed that the sequel, released a year later, would do the same, and even after reviews were less enthusiastic, experts still predicted Ariana Grande would secure her second Best Supporting Actress award in a row, taking nods in numerous craft categories. But the film was completely shut down, and there was an incredibly steep decline that made some question whether releasing the film so close together was such a good idea after all (the sequel also fell $250 million off the original’s global box office). In some ways, voters automatically and lazily refused to put the lesser sequel on the ballot (there was a 22% drop on Rotten Tomatoes too) because it instead allowed for less book-based choices.<\/p>\n

Wicked: For good reviews<\/sub><\/p>\n

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Ballad of a Little Player<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No one saw Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front come out. The third adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel quietly premiered in Toronto on Netflix in 2022, and in that year’s awards campaign the film was named <\uc88b\uc740 \uac04\ud638\uc0ac>, <\ubc31\uc0c9 \uc18c\uc74c>, <\ube14\ub860\ub4dc>has been pushed out of priority. But it slowly became the safest bet, with 14 Bafta nominations and 9 Oscars (ultimately winning 4). Berger became an in-demand director, and all eyes were on his adaptation of Robert Harris’ papal thriller Conclave. But then again, no one expected it to power through, earning $128 million worldwide and earning eight Oscar nominations (one win for Best Adapted Screenplay). Can you achieve 3v3 with The Ballad of a Small Player? Despite having everything lined up – Oscar nominee Colin Farrell, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton, and a Telluride premiere – the film never connected. It was too flashy, too loud, and too messy, so it almost immediately became a low priority for Netflix and voting bodies.<\/p>\n

Little Player’s Ballad Review<\/sub><\/p>\n

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Is this on?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span> Photo: Searchlight Pictures\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Bradley Cooper first appeared on the scene, not even his most supportive family members could have guessed that the man who primarily played humorous sidekicks would become a 12-time Oscar-nominated actor, writer, producer, and director. His directorial debut, A Star Is Born, was an award-winning masterpiece, grossing $436 million, and even if his follow-up, Maestro, didn’t find as many fans, it still earned him seven Oscars and seemed like he would automatically be in the conversation no matter what he did. His smaller-scale third film, the divorce comedy-drama What’s Happening? The film, which premiered at the New York Film Festival, failed to make enough noise at a time when the race seemed solid. It disappeared from the fall festival circuit before being flooded with preliminaries in December. It was another tough break for Searchlight. I couldn’t find love for this. The Testament of Ann Lee or\u2026<\/p>\n

Is this on? examine<\/sub><\/p>\n

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rental family<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/svg><\/span>rental family<\/span> Photo: Entertainment Pictures\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brendan Fraser’s comeback narrative was strong enough to earn the actor his first Oscar in 2023 for a film that was considered a bit of a disaster. A film that the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw generously called "silly, hammy and stagey,” The Whale gave Fraser an Academy-friendly makeover, and his off-screen story was compelling enough. Rental Family, which premiered in Toronto, was certainly a feel-good story and actually received better reviews than The Whale. But in the increasingly competitive best actor category, Fraser was another well-known name like Clooney, Johnson, White and Farrell, but he didn’t feel like an integral part of the race.<\/p>\n

Rental Family Review<\/sub><\/p>\n