Oscars Shakeup: ‘Barbie’ Moved to Adapted Screenplay by Academy Despite WGA Classification as Original (EXCLUSIVE)

In hindsight, it might not seem like it, but the 2024 Oscar season has been highly competitive on many fronts. First carried by the directors during the WGA and SAG strikes, the race got a November boost when the latter came to an end and the actors were free to promote to their heart’s content.

juggernaut doll movie.The roster instead included prestige favorites such as “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” all of which are expected to be announced as Best Picture Oscar nominees on Jan. 23.“Oppenheimer,” which was the most-nominated film with 13 mentions, maintains its coveted spot as the movie to beat at the Oscars after big wins at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards.“Barbie” wasn’t totally given the old heave-ho, though.The film received five nods: Actress (Robbie), supporting actor (Ryan Gosling), original screenplay, costume design and production design.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The BAFTA film nominations offered jaw-droppers and a couple of head-scratchers with their inclusions (and exclusions) this year. Always an interesting precursor to the Oscars, the past few years have produced less overlap between them, partially due to jury intervention in compiling the nominees. That makes deciphering what the BAFTAs mean to the overall awards landscape more complicated since the juries are only in place for directing and acting races, where most shockers are seen.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The finalists for the 36th USC Libraries Script Awards, honoring the most accomplished films and episodic series adaptations, have been announced. Among the selected are “American Fiction,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” all top-tier contenders for Oscar attention.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Put your pencils down, and pass your ballots to the front. The nominations voting period for the 96th Academy Awards is now closed. The latest influences on the race came from the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, where Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” topped both groups.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The SAG Awards nominations provided an exciting blend of usual suspects and stunning omissions. For some awards season strategists — particularly the ones behind critically adored films like “Anatomy of a Fall” and “May December” — there’s no choice but to ask, “what happened?” The SAG Awards’ pearl anniversary brought expected mentions for Oscar contenders such as the two summer smash hits “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” leading the tally for all movies with four nominations each. In addition, the crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the satirical dramedy “American Fiction” managed three mentions.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Awards Circuit Column: It’s decision time. After months of campaigning, festivalgoing, splashy premieres, magazine profiles and morning-show appearances, Academy voters will finally get their ballots this week (Thursday, Jan. 11).

EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley and Christian Convery are set to be a part of the all-star ensemble cast in Guillermo del Toro‘s Frankenstein at Netflix. Elordi will play the iconic monster, replacing Andrew Garfield, who fell out due to strike postponements that led to scheduling conflicts.

Barbie is an original screenplay, not an adapted screenplay, claims director/producer Judd Apatow.

Barbie would be classified as an adapted screenplay.Although the movie campaigned for Best Original Screenplay, Variety reported on Wednesday (January 3) that the film would instead be classified as an adapted screenplay. Previous films with pre-existing characters, such as Toy Story 3 and Before Sunset, have been classified as adapted screenplays.However, Apatow was not happy to hear the news, and took to X/Twitter to express his thoughts.

Judd Apatow is Team Barbie after The Academy made a surprising decision about how to handle the blockbuster at the 2024 Oscars.

Michaela Zee Judd Apatow disagrees with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to classify Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” as an adapted screenplay rather than original. “It’s insulting to the writers to say they were working off of existing material,” the “Knocked Up” and “This Is 40” director wrote on X/Twitter on Saturday. “There was no existing material or story.

Addie Morfoot Contributor This year’s Oscar feature documentary shortlist is made up of a group of 15 films that, by and large, big streamers aren’t interested in sharing with subscribers. Six films that made it to the shortlist — Lea Glob’s “Apolonia, Apolonia,” Nancy Buirski’s “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy,” Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” Maciek Hamela’s “In the Rearview,” Luke Lorentzen’s “A Still Small Voice” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” — have theatrical distribution, but were not picked up by a major streaming company such as Netflix, Amazon or Apple TV+.

South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who went to jail for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, has been released on parole.

Oscar Pistorius is no longer in prison.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA, has become a crucial indicator on which films and performances could garner support for the Academy Awards due to the huge overlap of voting members. Over the years, its influence on the Oscars has been undeniable, with many of its winners often helping to shape a narrative. After getting ignored by all the major guilds, last year’s German-language film “All Quiet on the Western Front” made a big showing before going on to nab nine Oscar nominations and winning four.

I’m Just Ken” from his summer blockbuster smash “Barbie” at the Academy Awards in March. “Well, I haven’t been invited,” Gosling, 43, stated during an interview with W Magazine. “But thanks for pointing that out.”“And I wasn’t thinking about it until now,” he jokingly added.

The Barbie movie is expected to receive a lot of love at the 2024 Academy Awards, but there’s been a surprise change to its eligibility status.

It’s been quite awhile since we’ve written about the Best Picture race. There’s a reason for that.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Who says you can’t laugh and win Oscars, too? In a stunning year for cinema, the candidates for the coveted best picture category are overflowing with prime comedic endeavors that surpass their dramatic counterparts. From a toy doll to an author with a triumphant “Black book” to a reverse Frankenstein tale that shows a whole lot of sex, the Academy has an opportunity to invite the softer side of cinema to its ceremony.