The Oscars are solely weeks away from crowning the twenty fifth Finest Image winner of the twenty first century, and all indicators level to One Battle After One other successful, except Sinners pulls off a minor shock. One of many causes for confidence in Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie successful the largest class on the 98th Academy Awards is how effectively its performed on the largest precursor awards.
Over time, the Golden Globes, Producers Guild of America, Actor Awards (previously SAG), Administrators Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, BAFTA, and Critics’ Alternative Awards have turn into the largest locations for films to win and place themselves for Oscar glory. Each has classes which have turn into extremely predictive of the Finest Image winner.
The Globes, PGA, BAFTA, and CCA have their model of Finest Movie, however there’s additionally the SAG’s Finest Solid class, DGA’s Finest Director, and each screenplay classes at WGA. Within the 30 years these classes have all been round, historical past tells us that three wins or extra make a film an actual contender; 79% of Finest Image winners this century hit this mark.
That is why Finest Image wins for Slumdog Millionaire and Argo had been so anticipated, as they gained the highest class at every of those seven precursors. That additionally helped just a few wins actually shock, similar to Parasite over 1917 in 2020, Moonlight over La La Land in 2017, and Crash fairly famously over Brokeback Mountain in 2006. However essentially the most unlikely Finest Image winner occurred the yr earlier than.
Million Greenback Child Is The Oscars’ Most Stunning Finest Image Winner This Century
Clint Eastwood’s preventing drama Million Greenback Child had a powerful efficiency on the 2005 Oscars, successful 4 Academy Awards off seven nominations. This included Eastwood claiming his second Finest Director win, in addition to his second for Finest Image. In each classes, Million Greenback Child beat robust contenders like The Aviator, Ray, and Sideways.
However the 2005 awards season gave no actual motive to suppose that final result was coming. Million Greenback Child had no bother gaining recognition all through the season, with Eastwood’s directing and Hilary Swank’s Oscar-winning efficiency the movie’s foremost sources of nominations and wins. But this not often translated to success on the largest precursors.
Million Greenback Child solely had one win at these seven foremost precursors: Eastwood for Excellent Directing on the DGA Awards. It’s the solely film of the twenty first century to win Finest Image with solely one among these wins. The one different instance within the 30 years of historical past is Braveheart, which gained Finest Image regardless of solely having a Finest Unique Screenplay win on the WGA Awards below its belt.
Eastwood’s movie had alternatives to do extra, with nominations for Finest Movement Image – Drama on the Golden Globes, Finest Theatrical Movement Image on the PGA Awards, and Finest Solid on the SAG Awards. Million Greenback Child did not get any recognition from the WGA Awards, CCA, or BAFTA.
|
2005 Oscars Precursor Scorecard |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Golden Globes (Drama) |
Golden Globes (Comedy/Musical) |
PGA |
SAG Finest Solid |
DGA |
WGA Tailored |
WGA Unique |
Critics’ Alternative Awards |
BAFTA |
|
The Aviator |
Sideways |
The Aviator |
Sideways |
Million Greenback Child |
Sideways |
Everlasting Sunshine of the Spotless Thoughts |
Sideways |
The Aviator |
If it had gained even simply a type of awards it was up for, it’d have seemed extra like the favourite to win Finest Image. As an alternative, The Aviator and Sideways had rather more help going into the 77th Academy Awards. The Aviator had three precursor wins, whereas Sideways had 4.
All the things gave the impression to be in The Aviator‘s favor to win Finest Image. It had the yr’s highest Oscar nomination complete (11). It was Scorsese’s fifth film nominated within the class, however not one of the earlier 4 gained. And with Scorsese additionally missing a Finest Director win on the time, it actually seemed like The Aviator can be what topped him an Oscar winner.
As an alternative, Million Greenback Child pulled off the Finest Image win, leaving the Oscars to lastly give Scorsese his due two years later with The Departed. Contemplating the higher significance these precursors have gained over time, we would by no means see as unlikely a Finest Image win once more as we did in 2005.
- Launch Date
-
December 15, 2004
- Runtime
-
132 minutes
- Writers
-
Paul Haggis
