Best Picture Voting Explained: How the Oscars Count the Votes

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor What better way to officially close the door on an exhausting awards season than to look ahead –blindly — to what studios and production companies could bring to the screen in 2023. As Variety‘s awards coverage transitions into the Emmy season, this annual tradition (albeit highly inaccurate due to release shifts and other varying factors) creates some fun and wonder as Cannes looms two months away. One first impression is that the streamers are back with a vengeance with an arsenal of big names and titles aiming to take the trophy from reigning best-picture champ A24 with “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Apple Original Films has a duo of master auteurs on deck.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large On Sunday, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” appeared to be everything, everywhere, all at once. The film, of course, dominated the 95th Oscars with seven wins — including best picture. Virtually all the stars (except Stephanie Hsu — hey Daniels, can you spare one of your SIX Oscars and share one with her??) received wins, on what was truly a historic night. And an emotional one. As the opening clips of this week’s Variety Awards Circuit Podcast illustrates, family was on the minds of this year’s winners. Listen to our Mega Roundtable edition, in which Clayton Davis, Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay and myself (that’s me, Michael Schneider) recount the show and dissect the winners — from Jimmy Kimmel’s excellent monologue to how every single category panned out:

In an awards season dominated by Oscars rules discussion and the multiversal “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the night is finally here. And guess what? Everything went just about as expected.

scoring the award for Best Picture at the 2023 Oscars.Harrison Ford presented the award onstage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, where Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered to celebrate the big night, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who had won earlier in the evening, were joined on stage by the entire cast to accept the historic award.“The world is changing rapidly and I fear our stories are not keeping at pace and sometimes it’s a little scary,” Kwan said, “but I have great faith in these stories.”“Everything Everywhere All At Once” received more Oscar nominations than any film this year with a whopping 11: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, two for Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Score and Best Song.The movie ended up winning seven of the 11 noms, including Best Picture, Best Actress for star Michelle Yeoh and Best Director for filmmakers Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan.The film was the movie to beat this year, having won the top prizes at both the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards.The comedy-drama beat “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Women Talking” for Oscar victory.“Everything Everywhere All At Once” made history as the first sci-fi film to ever win Best Picture.The movie stars Michelle Yeoh — who won Best Actress — as a Chinese immigrant who is swept into parallel universes in order to save all of existence and connects with the other lives she could have led.“Everything Everywhere All At Once” is also the first film to win

Some in the industry might be irked that the Oscars and SXSW are colliding on the same weekend this year, however, it’s a win-win for both tonight: For a year ago, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once blasted off here in Austin, TX as the festival’s opening night film. The movie becomes the first world premiere to debut at SXSW and win Oscar’s Best Picture.

It’s crowning achievement almost inevitable for weeks, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was named Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards. Directed, written and produced by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who also twon Oscars earlier in the telecast, the film also makes history as A24 Films second Best Picture winner in just 12 years.

Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for their roles in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” respectively.When it was announced that Curtis won, Bassett seemed less than thrilled — and, as seen in ABC’s telecast, seemingly didn’t even stand up to clap.Some Twitter users were disappointed to see the “Black Panther” star sit through the applause for Curtis while others were just disappointed Basset didn’t win.“Regardless of who won that Oscar… Angela Bassett could have clapped for the winner. To just sit there and not clap because you didn’t win …” someone said.Advertisement“Dayumm #AngelaBassett it’s ok.

Miles Teller and many of his Top Gun: Maverick co-stars such as Danny Ramirez suited up for the red carpet at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday (March 12).

The Academy doesn’t always get it right, according to the critics.

Hollywood Reporter survey found that a majority would like to go back and change their 1977 votes for “Rocky” to “All the President’s Men.” And looking back at 1999, if they had to do it all over again, they’d give the gold to war epic “Saving Private Ryan” instead of the largely-forgotten “Shakespeare in Love.” But there have been a lot more recipients of Hollywood’s highest honor that have fallen out of favor — and sometimes in epic fashion. Here are 11 examples of Best Picture winners that probably wouldn’t win the award in 2023 — that is, if they were even green-lighted in the first place.

“Oscar Wars” (HarperCollins), Michael Schulman reports on nearly a century of history and ignominy: from SAG boycotts, blacklists, bankruptcy and corruption to streakers, sex pests, racism and high embarrassment — not to mention certain slap-happy actors.“What are the Academy Awards, anyway?” he writes. “They’re an industry party—like a convention of landscapers, but with better outfits.

The Oscars is the greatest promotional event ever created for movies, and this year there’s a lot worth promoting. The 2022 crop of Best Picture nominees offer something for everyone, from action-packed blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water to the obligatory musical biopic featuring a standout lead performance to more challenging fare like Tár and Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large It all comes down to this weekend. Variety’s Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider dissect the Oscar categories one last time and share final predictions on this week’s edition of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit podcast. It’s a Mega Roundtable of the podcast, as the team goes through every category and offers up their final thoughts. Will “Everything Everywhere All at Once” sweep the night? Or are some surprises in store? Listen along as you fill out your office Oscars pool: Here are some of the potential wins that the team is rooting for:

Gina Prince-Bythewood is taking issue with the Oscars.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages are Davis’ assessment of the current standings of the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any film or performance. Like any organization or body that votes, each individual category is fluid and subject to change. Predictions are updated every Thursday. See the latest film predictions, in all 23 categories, in one place on Variety’s Oscars Collective.

The Academy Awards are nearly upon us.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Class…put your books away, and clear your desks. It’s now time for your Oscars test. We’ve watched all the movies and seen all the precursor ceremonies that have provided all the necessary hints and clues on which films will emerge victorious at the 95th annual Academy Awards on March 12.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Final Oscar voting has now ended for the upcoming 95th ceremony. Speaking with dozens of voters over the past few days, it’s nearly impossible to gauge the outcomes based on over 9,600 eligible voting members, who all have eclectic tastes and no apparent rhyme or reason for selecting specific films and performances. There are quite a few categories that are seemingly open for a surprise. Here are seven questions gathered from observations from discussions with voters and seven anonymous ballots from the AMPAS members before the voting deadline.

Charna Flam ABC has announced Ashley Graham, Vanessa Hudgens, Lilly Singh will host the upcoming “Countdown to the Oscars,” pre-show, airing ahead of the ceremony on March 12 at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on ABC. Leading into the pre-show will be ABC News’ live coverage during the “On The Red Carpet Live: Countdown to Oscars 95,” hosted by Linsey Davis and Whit Johnson and featuring Variety‘s own Elizabeth Wagmeister and Clayton Davis. Hudgens returns for her second consecutive year co-hosting the pre-show, while Graham and Singh join for the first time. In addition to Hudgens, Graham and Singh, the pre-show will include backstage coverage from content creator Reece Feldman. Alongside Feldman, TV personality Rocsi Diaz will also provide an insider perspective, as the correspondent for the Academy’s member viewing party in NYC.