Jimmy Kimmel, a talk show presenter, has questioned the Academy Awards for nominating Don’t Look Up for Best Picture but ignoring Spider-Man: No Way Home’s critical and financial success.
When the 94th Academy Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday, fans were disappointed to learn that the Marvel-Sony blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home did not receive a Best Picture nomination. The critically acclaimed and financially successful film was expected to be one of the few superhero films to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. However, it was unable to secure a spot among the ten nominations.
Jimmy Kimmel attacks Academy Awards for ignoring Spider-Man
Jimmy Kimmel, the talk show presenter, is among many who believe the film has been unfairly snubbed.’ The late-night talk show presenter used an edition of his show Jimmy Kimmel Live on February 8 to criticise the Academy Awards. During his monologue, he referred to No Way Home and said, “How did it not get one of the 10 nominations for best picture? Forget the fact that the movie made $750 million [in the US] and is still going. This was a fantastic film. Wasn’t it one of the year’s top ten films?”
The host claimed that the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts & Sciences voters were convinced by Don’t Look Up’s star-studded cast, which included Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep. “Why do best picture nominees have to be serious?” he asked. When did getting nominated for an Academy Award become a requirement? You want to know what occurred, don’t you? When voters spotted the names Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep on the list, they checked the box, then loaded their kids into the car and drove to see Spider-Man. They were ecstatic! However, they did not vote in favour of it.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home was a massive box office hit, becoming the first picture in the pandemic age to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. It was also well-received by critics. However, the film received only one Oscar nomination in 2022, for Best Visual Effects. Tom Holland, the film’s principal actor, previously claimed that an Oscar nomination was not a “required validation” for the picture. In an interview with Fox 5, Tom stated, “It would undoubtedly be a tremendous honour if it were nominated for an Academy Award, but I don’t believe that’s how we prefer to recognise ourselves. We want to legitimise ourselves by the affection we’ve received from the general population, which has been overwhelming thus far. So, for me, I’ve already accomplished everything with this film and this character.”
Last modified: August 31, 2022