The Oscar for Best Picture has been awarded to Everything Everywhere All At Once, as just announced at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The award winner was presented with the famous gold statuette at the 95th Academy Awards. The award was accepted by producer Jonathan Wang, and shared by directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (The Daniels). The film swept during Hollywood’s biggest night, taking home a total of seven prizes.
Last year’s winner, CODA, made history as it became the first streaming film to win a Best Picture Oscar. The feel-good drama, which was released by Apple TV+, won in each of its three nominated categories at the 94th Academy Awards. In addition to the Best Picture win, Troy Kotsur won the Best Supporting Actor award, and director Siân Heder won for Best Adapted Screenplay. CODA also became the first film with a predominantly Deaf cast to win Best Picture.
Everything Everywhere All At Once tells the story of Evelyn Wang, a down-on-her-luck laundromat owner who ends up with the ability to channel the multiverse after an interdimensional rupture threatens to unravel reality itself. Hot dog fingers, stop-motion rocks and a black hole within a bagel crafted by her oppressed daughter are some of the more standard features in a mind-bending adventure that blends the themes of bizarre comedy and family unity as Evelyn attempts to save the universe – and her daughter. The Academy also recognized The Daniels for both Directing and Original Screenplay, and awarded actors Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh for their performances in the film.
Everything Everywhere All at Once came into the evening as the favourite and front-runner. With 11 nominations, the movie shows up in more categories than any other nominee this year, while All Quiet on the Western Front – the German-language film from Netflix – and The Banshees of Inisherin followed with 9 nominations each. They were joined in the nominees list by Triangle of Sadness, Tár, Elvis, The Fabelmans and Women Talking.
The return of audiences to movie theatres following the pandemic was also acknowledged, with two films – Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick – both being nominated for Best Picture, having earned over $1 billion each at the worldwide box office, marking the first time two films to pass that milestone had earned nominations.
