This is the latest edition of the Movies Fantasy League newsletter. The drafting window for this season has closed, but you can still sign up to get the newsletter, which provides a weekly recap of box-office performance, awards nominations, and critical chatter on all the buzziest movies.
Remember when it seemed like the Golden Globes was about to quietly slink away, having been hobbled by scandal and the poor taste of that enigmatic collective known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It wasn’t that long ago — and yet there we were, bright and early on a Monday morning, watching Wilmer Valderrama say “Super Mario Bros.†multiple times while reading off the list of this year’s Globe nominees, and then arguing about whether Saltburn deserved two acting nominations. (It did!)
However you may feel about the Globes, its nominations did provide a massive infusion of points into the Movie Fantasy League, upending the leaderboard and giving us a better indication of what the heavyweight movies will be for the remainder of awards season.
Up to this point, the top-earning MFL films were box-office plays like Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Now, after two weeks of awards season, the top-ten highest overall scores for films are:
âž¼ Killers of the Flower Moon: 411 points
âž¼ Barbie: 355
âž¼ Past Lives: 310
âž¼ Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: 293
âž¼ Poor Things: 290
âž¼ The Holdovers: 286
âž¼ Oppenheimer: 285
âž¼ May December: 245
➼ Five Nights at Freddy’s: 237
âž¼ The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes: 235
We’ve turned the corner. Buckle up.
Box Office: Heron Fever (Figurative) Strikes America
I make this observation with all due care and consideration for my own safety: While Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour lingered in the box-office top five for several weeks, racking up well over $150 million domestic, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé plummeted in its second weekend, dropping all the way from first to fifth and failing to reach a cumulative total of $30 million. That should provide some solace for anyone who continues to lament their inability to draft the Beyoncé film due to our eligibility deadline. You’d have been in for a world of disappointment.
You know who is not disappointed? Hayao Miyazaki true believers. Not only has The Boy and the Heron emerged from critics’ awards season as the odds-on favorite to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, it just pulled in a No. 1 weekend at the box office. At nearly $13 million, the Miyazaki film earned 32 box-office points (including the bonus for finishing No. 1), giving it a total of 103 points. With major animated releases such as Elemental and Wish earning the flop moniker this year (even if, in the case of Elemental, it was premature), The Boy and the Heron could go far with the critics and audiences behind it.
Speaking of Wish, it still hadn’t cleared the $50 million threshold as of last weekend. Napoleon, meanwhile, managed to crawl its way to $53 million.
Elsewhere, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes continues to be a solid box-office player, with $135 million cumulative. And Killers of the Flower Moon is up to $66 million domestic, which will pair quite well with the week it had in the precursor awards.
Awards, Part 1: L.A. in the Zone
First up this week were the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and its all-day Sunday affair. While New York’s critics and the National Board of Review agreed on a great many awards (Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone, DaVine Joy Randolph), L.A. threw some welcome curveballs, including a Supporting Performance prize to Rachel McAdams for Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret and Emma Stone getting an award for Poor Things. But the big news was Jonathan Glazer’s dark, ruminating World War II drama The Zone of Interest taking the Best Film award. It was the first significant points boost for Zone, though more were soon to follow …
Awards, Part 2: Global Guts
The Golden Globes returned under new management with a solid roster of nominees, and one dubious new category (Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, too ashamed to even use the word best). Four films grabbed 31 of a total 92 nominations; that’s not great if you like an awards show to look beyond a handful of films for its nominees, but it does show you that these four movies are going to be everywhere this season: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things. Check your rosters. Pray you’ve got at least one, preferably two, and if you’re lucky three of those movies.
With nine nominations, Barbie pulled in a whopping 140 points, the best single-day performance in the League up to that point. (Stick a pin in that record; it won’t last long). Oppenheimer was close behind with 125 points off of eight nominations, thus continuing the year’s most dominant cinematic narrative: Barbenheimer. Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things pulled in seven nominations and 110 points apiece.
Other strong showings included 80 points for Celine Song’s Past Lives, which pulled in nominations for Best Actress (Greta Lee), Best Director (Song), Best Non-English Language Film, and Best Motion Picture– Drama. Also double-dipping in the Non-English and Best Drama categories were Anatomy of a Fall (65 points) and The Zone of Interest (50 points).
Films earning their first points of the season included the Japanese animated feature Suzume; Nyad, with acting nominations for Annette Bening and Jodie Foster; Wonka, which got a nomination for Timothée Chalamet ahead of its opening weekend; and Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, for Joaquin Phoenix in Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, an absolutely correct categorization for a film that nevertheless leaves the audience feeling neither musical nor particularly comedic.
Awards, Part 3: Everyone’s a Critic(’s Choice Nominee)
The Broadcast Film Critics Association were back to once again hand out nominations to everyone with the annual Critics Choice nominations. As with the Globes, this was a top-heavy ballot that skewed toward Barbie, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things.
Barbie bested its single-day record with a 150-point affair, followed by Oppenheimer (125 points), Killers of the Flower Moon (120 points), and Poor Things (115 points). Maestro also turned in its best day of the fantasy season, with 90 points off of eight nominations.
The Holdovers (90 points) and American Fiction (65) both showed up well, while May December and Past Lives (45 points each) fell behind their fellow Best Picture contenders. The Color Purple got just five nominations and 45 points at the Critics Choice, but it made the Top 10 for Best Picture, a feat it is hoping it can repeat with the Producers Guild. It was a much-needed good showing for The Color Purple, especially after failing to register in Best Picture at the Globes.
The Critics Choice put a few more films on the board for the first time this season, including the animated Nimona and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, the box-office disappointment The Creator, and the Ayo Edebiri–Rachel Sennott comedy Bottoms.
Leaderboard
After two straight giant days for Barbie, it’s no shock that one of the new first-place teams has a Barbie-themed name. Yes, I said “one of,†because there’s a tie at the top! Current leaders Barbie tingz and RobsFlicks have identical rosters:
All of Us Strangers
American Fiction
Barbie
The Exorcist: Believer
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Killers of the Flower Moon
Poor Things
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Much like Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in the most recent Mission: Impossible, those two teams are now handcuffed to each other for the duration of this extended car chase we call the Movies Fantasy League.
You can see the full leaderboard here on the main MFL landing page.
Looking Ahead
Wonka hits North American theaters this weekend after already performing well overseas, and with reviews for the film surprisingly quite good, Wonka drafters might be in for good news. Elsewhere, American Fiction and The Zone of Interest are opening in limited release, just in time to capitalize on their awards momentum from this week.
And next Thursday, December 21, Oscars short lists will be revealed. You can check our landing page for the full schedule of awards announcements.
Questions? Feedback? Can’t find your team or mini-league on the leaderboard? Drop us a line at [email protected].Â