Amazon Studios, the film and TV production arm of Jeff Bezos' ecommerce giant, made history Tuesday by becoming the first video streaming company to score a best picture nomination.
"Manchester by the Sea," the acclaimed Casey Affleck drama backed by Amazon and distributed theatrically by Roadside Attractions, scored six nods from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which holds its awards ceremony Feb. 26.
To be sure, "Manchester by the Sea," up for awards including lead actor, lead actress and director, is not streaming yet on the Amazon Prime service. Unlike Netflix, Amazon's movie business follows the traditional windowing model where movies run exclusively in theaters before landing on home video outlets.
Still, the honor is a major step for Amazon as it becomes an increasingly formidable player among the traditional studios and distributors and ramps up competition with Netflix for digital eyeballs. It's a milestone that reflects the growing relevance of digital upstarts as they spend heavily on original content and team up with prestigious filmmakers. (Netflix came away with a single nomination, for Ava DuVernay's mass incarceration documentary, "13th.")
Multiple relative Hollywood outsiders, including Amazon and CBS Films, took the stage among the regular power players.
Santa Monica studio Lionsgate notched 26 nominations to lead all the distributors, including a record-tying 14 for the original musical "La La Land." Lionsgate also earned kudos for "Hacksaw Ridge" and "Hell or High Water," meaning the company laid claim to three of the nine best picture contenders. The last time the studio was in the best picture race was 2009, when it had "Precious" and Summit Entertainment (which Lionsgate later acquired) won with "The Hurt Locker."
Other outsiders making their play at the Oscar table include ESPN, the cable sports giant owned by Disney, which made the documentary "O.J.: Made In America." The inclusion of the nearly eight-hour film, which ran in theaters and played on TV in multiple parts, has further blurred lines between what is considered a movie or a TV show.
New York-based indie distributor A24 continued its quest to be an Oscar regular, with 10 total nominations, including a big haul for Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight."
Additionally, CBS Films, the small movie arm of broadcasting juggernaut CBS Corp., earned four for "Hell or High Water," the neo-western starring Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges. "Hell or High Water" is up for best picture, supporting actor, screenplay and film editing.
But some major studios were not to be counted out, especially Paramount Pictures, which nabbed 18 for a slate led by the alien visitation picture "Arrival." The pile of nominations, which also recognized "Fences" and "Florence Foster Jenkins," is a welcome victory for the Viacom Inc.-owned studio amid a period of financial troubles. Paramount had the second-most nomination of any company this year.
Harvey Weinstein was back in the Oscar limelight after last year's drought: "Lion," released by the Weinstein Co., locked in six nominations. Meanwhile, Focus Features, the specialty unit of NBCUniversal, had four Oscar picks, and Disney earned eight (not counting ESPN).
20th Century Fox had seven, counting Fox Searchlight's "Jackie," the studio's box office success "Hidden Figures" and the DreamWorks cartoon "Trolls" (up for original song). Warner Bros.' four nominations were relegated to more technical categories. It is the first time the Burbank giant has been shut out of the best picture race in years.
Last year, 20th Century Fox scored the most nominations of all the distributors, thanks to commercial and critical hits "The Martian" and "The Revenant."
