95 movies have been crowned Best Picture at the Oscars, but only two sequels: The Godfather Part II and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Other sequels have been nominated, including The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Toy Story 3, and Mad Max: Fury Road (not The Dark Knight, though, sorry Steven Spielberg), but never two in one year. Until this year, when two billion-dollar grossers, Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick, are up for the biggest prize at the 95th Academy Awards.
Will they win? Vegas says it’s unlikely, with Top Gun: Maverick (+1,000) trailing Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin, while Avatar: The Way of Water (+8,000) ranks eighth among the 10 nominees, ahead of only Elvis and Triangle of Sadness. But never count out Tom Cruise or James Cameron.
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, Top Gun or Avatar could be the populist pick:
It’s also worth noting that Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were all considered massive box office successes (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery only had a limited release before heading straight to Netflix). Many pundits are expecting films that prove moviegoing can still be a financially viable industry to be at the top of the Academy’s priority list come Oscars night.
In a way, both sequels, Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, are already winners (by not being the dreadful Jurassic World: Dominion). The 95th Academy Awards air on March 12.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)