Only one movie will take home the best-picture Oscar at Sunday`s Academy Awards, but several contenders have capitalized on their nominations by banking tens of millions of dollars over the past month at worldwide box offices. 
 
Steven Spielberg`s &quot;The Post,&quot; a 20th Century Fox drama about press freedom, has enjoyed the biggest boost, adding roughly $91 million, or 63 percent of its total, since it was named one of nine best picture nominees on Jan. 23. 
 
Fantasy romance &quot;The Shape of Water,&quot; from Fox arthouse division Fox Searchlight, follows with $72 million, or 65 percent, according to data from Box Office.&nbsp; 
The Oscar bounce is no accident. Movie studios execute carefully crafted release strategies and marketing campaigns touting the nominations, hoping to draw audiences to theaters at a time when they have plenty of choices to stream at home. 
 
&quot;The Shape of Water&quot; debuted in a limited number of theaters in early December. The weekend after Oscar nominations were unveiled, Fox Searchlight more than doubled the locations showing the film, and the movie scored its highest three-day tally on its way to $111 million total.&nbsp; 
 
The studio also spent $2.7 million to run TV ads on late-night talk shows and drama series such as NBC`s &quot;This Is Us,&quot; according to data from analytics firm iSpot. 
 
With three best-picture nominees, Fox leads all studios in post-nomination grosses with nearly $231 million. 
 
It is unclear how much the Oscar publicity drives ticket sales, but studio executives say it clearly helps, particularly for arthouse films that appeal to smaller audiences than blockbusters like &quot;Jumanji&quot; that were playing at the same time. 
 
&quot;Audiences can only go to see so many films,&quot; said Duncan Clark, president of distribution for Comcast Corp`s Universal Pictures International. &quot;They are going to be steered to the ones with the highest profile.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
Universal planned months ahead to keep historical drama &quot;Darkest Hour&quot; in theaters during January and February, expecting it would be an Oscar contender, Clark said. Universal released the movie in international markets while its Focus Features division distributed the film domestically. 
 
&quot;Darkest Hour&quot; has garnered about $58 million since the nominations, and the studio is aiming to add to that total in Japan, where it is timing the release to the elevated profile of the film`s Japanese makeup artist. Kazuhiro Tsuji, who has been praised by star Gary Oldman for transforming him into British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, won a BAFTA for the work and is nominated for an Oscar.&nbsp; 
&quot;Darkest Hour&quot; opens in Japan in March and has earned $136 million so far, just behind the nearly $146 million total for &quot;The Post.&quot; 
 
&quot;They`ve done very well for low-budget films, helping projects that might often be limited to modest arthouse runs become successful in the mainstream,&quot; Shawn Robbins, chief analyst for BoxOffice.com, said of the movies still in theaters.&nbsp; 
 
But none has come close to the two highest-grossing nominees. World War Two drama &quot;Dunkirk&quot; rang up $525 million while horror movie &quot;Get Out&quot; took in $255 million.&nbsp; 
 
Those movies, however, were released early in 2017 and left theaters long before the Oscar nominations. They may still benefit from bigger sales on DVD and streaming video through outlets such as Amazon.com Inc, which is promoting nominated films to customers this week.

Several contenders have capitalized on their nominations by banking tens of millions of dollars over the past month at worldwide box offices.

Only one movie will take home the best-picture Oscar at Sunday`s Academy Awards, but several contenders have capitalized on their nominations by banking tens of millions of dollars over the past month at worldwide box offices. Steven Spielberg`s "The Post," a 20th Century Fox drama about press freedom, has enjoyed the biggest boost, adding roughly $91 million, or 63 percent of its total, since it was named one of nine best picture nominees on Jan. 23. Fantasy romance "The Shape of Water," from Fox arthouse division Fox Searchlight, follows with $72 million, or 65 percent, according to data from Box Office. The Oscar bounce is no accident. Movie studios execute carefully crafted release strategies and marketing campaigns touting the nominations, hoping to draw audiences to theaters at a time when they have plenty of choices to stream at home. "The Shape of Water" debuted in a limited number of theaters in early December. The weekend after Oscar nominations were unveiled, Fox Searchlight more than doubled the locations showing the film, and the movie scored its highest three-day tally on its way to $111 million total. The studio also spent $2.7 million to run TV ads on late-night talk shows and drama series such as NBC`s "This Is Us," according to data from analytics firm iSpot. With three best-picture nominees, Fox leads all studios in post-nomination grosses with nearly $231 million. It is unclear how much the Oscar publicity drives ticket sales, but studio executives say it clearly helps, particularly for arthouse films that appeal to smaller audiences than blockbusters like "Jumanji" that were playing at the same time. "Audiences can only go to see so many films," said Duncan Clark, president of distribution for Comcast Corp`s Universal Pictures International. "They are going to be steered to the ones with the highest profile." Universal planned months ahead to keep historical drama "Darkest Hour" in theaters during January and February, expecting it would be an Oscar contender, Clark said. Universal released the movie in international markets while its Focus Features division distributed the film domestically. "Darkest Hour" has garnered about $58 million since the nominations, and the studio is aiming to add to that total in Japan, where it is timing the release to the elevated profile of the film`s Japanese makeup artist. Kazuhiro Tsuji, who has been praised by star Gary Oldman for transforming him into British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, won a BAFTA for the work and is nominated for an Oscar. "Darkest Hour" opens in Japan in March and has earned $136 million so far, just behind the nearly $146 million total for "The Post." "They`ve done very well for low-budget films, helping projects that might often be limited to modest arthouse runs become successful in the mainstream," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst for BoxOffice.com, said of the movies still in theaters. But none has come close to the two highest-grossing nominees. World War Two drama "Dunkirk" rang up $525 million while horror movie "Get Out" took in $255 million. Those movies, however, were released early in 2017 and left theaters long before the Oscar nominations. They may still benefit from bigger sales on DVD and streaming video through outlets such as Amazon.com Inc, which is promoting nominated films to customers this week.

How Oscar nod is helping films to double their earnings at the box office

A front-runner for 90th Academy Awards scheduled for March 4, Pixar&#39;s animated movie &quot;Coco&quot;&nbsp;has been receiving rave reviews both commercially and critically.&nbsp;

If getting nominated for Best Animated Feature Film was not enough, the film&#39;s theme song &quot;Remember Me&quot;&nbsp;is also up for Best Original Song category.

Now, to heighten the joy of those who enjoyed the film -- singers&nbsp;LaFourcade and Miguel who sang &ldquo;Remember Me&rdquo; together on the soundtrack along with&nbsp;Garcia Bernal, who voiced the character Hector in the movie and sings&nbsp;a Spanish version of the song -- will now be pairing for a live&nbsp;performance at the Oscars.&nbsp;

The song&nbsp;&ldquo;Remember Me&rdquo; was originally composed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the songwriting couple who won an Oscar for &ldquo;Let It Go&rdquo; from Disney&rsquo;s 2013 hit film &quot;Frozen&quot;.

Here&#39;s hoping that the Mexican-culture themed film wins it big at Oscars!

&nbsp;

The theme song 'Remember Me' from the animated movie is nominated for Best Original Song

A front-runner for 90th Academy Awards scheduled for March 4, Pixar's animated movie "Coco" has been receiving rave reviews both commercially and critically. If getting nominated for Best Animated Feature Film was not enough, the film's theme song "Remember Me" is also up for Best Original Song category. Now, to heighten the joy of those who enjoyed the film -- singers LaFourcade and Miguel who sang “Remember Me” together on the soundtrack along with Garcia Bernal, who voiced the character Hector in the movie and sings a Spanish version of the song -- will now be pairing for a live performance at the Oscars. The song “Remember Me” was originally composed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the songwriting couple who won an Oscar for “Let It Go” from Disney’s 2013 hit film "Frozen". Here's hoping that the Mexican-culture themed film wins it big at Oscars!

Oscars 2018: Natalia, Miguel, Gael Garcia to perform nominated song 'Remember Me' from 'Coco'

The Shape of Water, a contender for this year`s best picture Oscar, was hit with a plagiarism lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that its fantastical plot about a romance between a cleaning woman and a mysterious river creature was lifted directly from an American stage play. 
 
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleged that director Guillermo del Toro, producer Daniel Kraus and movie studio Fox Searchlight &quot;brazenly copies the story, elements, characters and themes&quot; from a 1969 play by the late Paul Zindel. 
 
The Shape of Water&nbsp;has a leading 13 Oscar nominations at the March 4 Academy Awards ceremony, including nods for best picture and best director. The lawsuit was filed the day after ballots went out to some 8,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who vote on the Oscar winners. 
 
The lawsuit, filed by Zindel`s son David, listed more than 60 resemblances between the play Let Me Hear You Whisper,&nbsp;and The Shape of Water. 
 
They include the play and the movie`s basic story of the lonely janitor who works at a scientific laboratory during the Cold War, forms a loving bond with a captive aquatic creature and hatches a plan to liberate it.&nbsp;In the Zindel play, the creature is a dolphin. In the movie, it is a half-man, half-river creature. 
 
The lawsuit said that despite &quot;the glaring similarities between the play and the obviously derivative picture, defendants never bothered to seek or obtain a customary license&quot; for the rights to Zindel`s play, nor credit him. 
Fox Searchlight denied the claims as &quot;baseless (and) wholly without merit.&quot; 
 
The studio said in a statement that the lawsuit seemed timed &quot;to coincide with the Academy Award voting cycle in order to pressure our studio to quickly settle. Instead, we will vigorously defend ourselves and, by extension, this groundbreaking and original film.&quot; 
 
The lawsuit cited interviews given by Kraus and del Toro in which they said Kraus, an American novelist, came up with the storyline about a janitor who kidnaps an amphibian. 
 
It alleged that Kraus was aware of Zindel and his play, which was produced for television in 1969 and again in 1990. 
 
New York-based Zindel, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1964 play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, died in 2003. 
 
The Shape of Water&nbsp;has already won the best picture Golden Globe and numerous acting and craft awards from film critics` groups in the United States and elsewhere.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleged that the film "brazenly copies the story, elements, characters and themes" from a 1969 play by the late Paul Zindel.

The Shape of Water, a contender for this year`s best picture Oscar, was hit with a plagiarism lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that its fantastical plot about a romance between a cleaning woman and a mysterious river creature was lifted directly from an American stage play. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleged that director Guillermo del Toro, producer Daniel Kraus and movie studio Fox Searchlight "brazenly copies the story, elements, characters and themes" from a 1969 play by the late Paul Zindel. The Shape of Water has a leading 13 Oscar nominations at the March 4 Academy Awards ceremony, including nods for best picture and best director. The lawsuit was filed the day after ballots went out to some 8,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who vote on the Oscar winners. The lawsuit, filed by Zindel`s son David, listed more than 60 resemblances between the play Let Me Hear You Whisper, and The Shape of Water. They include the play and the movie`s basic story of the lonely janitor who works at a scientific laboratory during the Cold War, forms a loving bond with a captive aquatic creature and hatches a plan to liberate it. In the Zindel play, the creature is a dolphin. In the movie, it is a half-man, half-river creature. The lawsuit said that despite "the glaring similarities between the play and the obviously derivative picture, defendants never bothered to seek or obtain a customary license" for the rights to Zindel`s play, nor credit him. Fox Searchlight denied the claims as "baseless (and) wholly without merit." The studio said in a statement that the lawsuit seemed timed "to coincide with the Academy Award voting cycle in order to pressure our studio to quickly settle. Instead, we will vigorously defend ourselves and, by extension, this groundbreaking and original film." The lawsuit cited interviews given by Kraus and del Toro in which they said Kraus, an American novelist, came up with the storyline about a janitor who kidnaps an amphibian. It alleged that Kraus was aware of Zindel and his play, which was produced for television in 1969 and again in 1990. New York-based Zindel, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1964 play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, died in 2003. The Shape of Water has already won the best picture Golden Globe and numerous acting and craft awards from film critics` groups in the United States and elsewhere.

Oscar contender 'Shape of Water' accused of plagiarising 1969 American play

The first thing to understand about the Oscars is that, as a measure of the aesthetic value of films, they are completely unreliable. To understand why this is the case, we need to know what exactly &ldquo;The Academy&rdquo; is and how it operates.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, established in 1927, is an invitation-only honorary society made up of people who work in the film industry, mainly in Hollywood. The Academy has several branches: one for actors, one for editors, one for executives, and so on. Memberships, once gained, do not expire.

The Academy was originally formed as an organisation that could deal with the internal politics of Hollywood, such as labour disputes, but also to enhance its external reputation.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39997/original/6yy6q59n-1390888329.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39997/original/6yy6q59n-1390888329.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" /></a>

<figcaption>
Photo from the 1937 Academy Awards. Flickr/Curt Gibbs

While cinema itself has been wildly popular in America since its beginnings, Hollywood quickly gained a reputation as a hotbed of vice and sleaze. The damaging Fatty Arbuckle rape and murder scandal of 1921 was still fresh in the collective memory five years later at the founding of The Academy.

The Academy does things other than give out awards. It has a library in Beverly Hills that is an important archival resource for film scholars. I&rsquo;ve been there to do research; it&rsquo;s top notch. But all the other activities of the Academy are dwarfed by their annual awards ceremony, which was first held in 1929.

It works like this: Academy members are sent a &ldquo;Reminder List of Eligible Releases&rdquo; from which to make their nominations. Films on that list have met a few benchmarks. For instance, a feature film&rsquo;s premiere must have been in a movie theatre, and the film must have run in an L.A. county theatre with paid admission for a period of seven consecutive days.

That&rsquo;s why one of this year&rsquo;s best American films is ineligible for Oscars. Although it screened in cinemas here in Australia and in other territories, Steven Soderbergh&rsquo;s Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra was made for US premium cable channel HBO and did not receive a theatrical release in the States.
</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure class="align-center "><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40706/original/gn2wpgjr-1391560876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" />
<figcaption>Michael Douglas and Matt Damon star in Behind the Candelabra. Sesc em Sa o Paulo/Flickr</figcaption>
</figure>

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Before the nominees are decided in the Oscars race, a whole lot of other bodies have their say. The Oscars is merely the culmination of a long &ldquo;awards season&rdquo; that begins months earlier. Some of these other bodies, such as the National Society of Film Critics, style themselves as a kind of anti-Oscars, purely concerned with film as art.

Armond White (yes, he of the Steve McQueen as &ldquo;embarrassing garbage man&rdquo;), when he was chair of the New York Film Critics Circle, told me that he thought of his organisation as:

<blockquote>
a bastion of East Coast intellectual elitism, and the &lsquo;laurel-leaf&rsquo; tradition of judging artistic works.Meanwhile other organisations, such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (who put on the Golden Globes) seek to ape the Oscars by predicting at their own ceremonies the likely Oscars contenders. All of this &ldquo;awards season&rdquo; build-up figures in the mind of Academy voters, and certain films emerge from the process with an air of inevitability.
</blockquote>

&nbsp;

In most award categories the members of each branch vote exclusively for their respective award category. The art directors, for instance, select the nominees for Best Production Design. After a few weeks the results are tabulated by accountants, the nominees in each category are finalised, and the final ballots are prepared.

There is a two-week period between the final ballots being sent out and the deadline for voting. It is in this window that production companies mount enormous campaigns to secure votes for their nominated pictures. This is the point of those &ldquo;For Your Consideration &hellip;&rdquo; ads you might have seen in US magazines.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40698/original/52ypxbym-1391559223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40698/original/52ypxbym-1391559223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" /></a>

<figcaption>Harvey Weinstein at the 2012 Oscars. Beacon Radio/Flickr</figcaption>
</figure>

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Harvey Weinstein, formally of Miramax and now of The Weinstein Company, is regarded as the most effective Oscars campaigner. Through a combination of extravagant advertising outlay, lavish schmoozing, and&mdash;some have claimed&mdash;more Machiavellian tactics, Weinstein has managed to convince Hollywood-at-large of what we can agree in retrospect is some thoroughly middlebrow nonsense. See Chicago and Shakespeare in Love (actually don&rsquo;t).

The seminal book on cultural prizes is James F. English&rsquo;s 2005 The Economy of Prestige. In it English shows that &ldquo;prizes have always been of fundamental importance to the institutional machinery of cultural legitimacy and authority&rdquo;, that they are &ldquo;machines for securing and extending their own authority&rdquo;. This is instructive when we think about the Oscars, and what they&rsquo;re for.

<figure class="align-left "><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40710/original/4z5k46tm-1391561213.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" />
<figcaption>
Jack Nicholson won Best Actor at the 70th Academy Awards for his role in As Good as it Gets. Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

&nbsp;
</figcaption>
</figure>

A 2012 Los Angeles Times study of the Academy&rsquo;s nearly 6,000 person membership showed the following demographic breakdown: the Academy is 94% white, 77% male, 14% under the age of 50, and has a median age of 62. Some 33% of members are previous winners or nominees of Academy Awards themselves.

If we think of The Oscars as a machine for consolidating and extending the power of its membership &mdash; a coterie of old white men at the apex of the entertainment-industrial complex (I see you, Jack) &mdash; then we begin to understand that the Oscars are a poor instrument for objectively identifying the best of film as art.

The interests of film art and film industry do not necessarily coincide.

<figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40715/original/6wjs5qy4-1391562890.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40715/original/6wjs5qy4-1391562890.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" /></a>

<figcaption>
Quvenzhane Wallis arrives for the 2013 Academy Awards. Mike Nelson/EPA

The inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929 acknowledged the contradiction at the heart of the exercise. In effect it gave two best picture awards. One for &ldquo;Outstanding Picture&rdquo; to World War I flyer drama romance Wings; one for &ldquo;Unique and Artist Picture&rdquo; to Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

Wings is now little more than an historical footnote, while Sunrise is regarded as not only one of the pinnacles of the silent cinema, but of cinema. It was number five on the BFI&rsquo;s 2012 list Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time. It is instructive that the discontinued Oscars category contained the enduring work.

It&rsquo;s not that artistically excellent films can&rsquo;t be nominated for, and win, the &ldquo;Outstanding Picture&rdquo; successor &ldquo;Best Picture&rdquo; award. It&rsquo;s just that these films are competing against a lot of contradictory impulses.

Will this year&rsquo;s Best Picture be one like 2007&rsquo;s No Country For Old Men &ndash; a film that will be watched 50 years from now? Or one like 2008&rsquo;s Slumdog Millionaire: a film for which, six years later, we have to strain to recall what the fuss was about?

&nbsp;
</figcaption>
</figure>

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-oscars-22215">original article</a>.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The interests of film art and film industry do not necessarily coincide.

The first thing to understand about the Oscars is that, as a measure of the aesthetic value of films, they are completely unreliable. To understand why this is the case, we need to know what exactly “The Academy” is and how it operates. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, established in 1927, is an invitation-only honorary society made up of people who work in the film industry, mainly in Hollywood. The Academy has several branches: one for actors, one for editors, one for executives, and so on. Memberships, once gained, do not expire. The Academy was originally formed as an organisation that could deal with the internal politics of Hollywood, such as labour disputes, but also to enhance its external reputation. Photo from the 1937 Academy Awards. Flickr/Curt Gibbs While cinema itself has been wildly popular in America since its beginnings, Hollywood quickly gained a reputation as a hotbed of vice and sleaze. The damaging Fatty Arbuckle rape and murder scandal of 1921 was still fresh in the collective memory five years later at the founding of The Academy. The Academy does things other than give out awards. It has a library in Beverly Hills that is an important archival resource for film scholars. I’ve been there to do research; it’s top notch. But all the other activities of the Academy are dwarfed by their annual awards ceremony, which was first held in 1929. It works like this: Academy members are sent a “Reminder List of Eligible Releases” from which to make their nominations. Films on that list have met a few benchmarks. For instance, a feature film’s premiere must have been in a movie theatre, and the film must have run in an L.A. county theatre with paid admission for a period of seven consecutive days. That’s why one of this year’s best American films is ineligible for Oscars. Although it screened in cinemas here in Australia and in other territories, Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra was made for US premium cable channel HBO and did not receive a theatrical release in the States. Michael Douglas and Matt Damon star in Behind the Candelabra. Sesc em Sa o Paulo/Flickr Before the nominees are decided in the Oscars race, a whole lot of other bodies have their say. The Oscars is merely the culmination of a long “awards season” that begins months earlier. Some of these other bodies, such as the National Society of Film Critics, style themselves as a kind of anti-Oscars, purely concerned with film as art. Armond White (yes, he of the Steve McQueen as “embarrassing garbage man”), when he was chair of the New York Film Critics Circle, told me that he thought of his organisation as: a bastion of East Coast intellectual elitism, and the ‘laurel-leaf’ tradition of judging artistic works.Meanwhile other organisations, such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (who put on the Golden Globes) seek to ape the Oscars by predicting at their own ceremonies the likely Oscars contenders. All of this “awards season” build-up figures in the mind of Academy voters, and certain films emerge from the process with an air of inevitability. In most award categories the members of each branch vote exclusively for their respective award category. The art directors, for instance, select the nominees for Best Production Design. After a few weeks the results are tabulated by accountants, the nominees in each category are finalised, and the final ballots are prepared. There is a two-week period between the final ballots being sent out and the deadline for voting. It is in this window that production companies mount enormous campaigns to secure votes for their nominated pictures. This is the point of those “For Your Consideration …” ads you might have seen in US magazines. Harvey Weinstein at the 2012 Oscars. Beacon Radio/Flickr Harvey Weinstein, formally of Miramax and now of The Weinstein Company, is regarded as the most effective Oscars campaigner. Through a combination of extravagant advertising outlay, lavish schmoozing, and—some have claimed—more Machiavellian tactics, Weinstein has managed to convince Hollywood-at-large of what we can agree in retrospect is some thoroughly middlebrow nonsense. See Chicago and Shakespeare in Love (actually don’t). The seminal book on cultural prizes is James F. English’s 2005 The Economy of Prestige. In it English shows that “prizes have always been of fundamental importance to the institutional machinery of cultural legitimacy and authority”, that they are “machines for securing and extending their own authority”. This is instructive when we think about the Oscars, and what they’re for. Jack Nicholson won Best Actor at the 70th Academy Awards for his role in As Good as it Gets. Featureflash / Shutterstock.com A 2012 Los Angeles Times study of the Academy’s nearly 6,000 person membership showed the following demographic breakdown: the Academy is 94% white, 77% male, 14% under the age of 50, and has a median age of 62. Some 33% of members are previous winners or nominees of Academy Awards themselves. If we think of The Oscars as a machine for consolidating and extending the power of its membership — a coterie of old white men at the apex of the entertainment-industrial complex (I see you, Jack) — then we begin to understand that the Oscars are a poor instrument for objectively identifying the best of film as art. The interests of film art and film industry do not necessarily coincide. Quvenzhane Wallis arrives for the 2013 Academy Awards. Mike Nelson/EPA The inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929 acknowledged the contradiction at the heart of the exercise. In effect it gave two best picture awards. One for “Outstanding Picture” to World War I flyer drama romance Wings; one for “Unique and Artist Picture” to Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Wings is now little more than an historical footnote, while Sunrise is regarded as not only one of the pinnacles of the silent cinema, but of cinema. It was number five on the BFI’s 2012 list Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time. It is instructive that the discontinued Oscars category contained the enduring work. It’s not that artistically excellent films can’t be nominated for, and win, the “Outstanding Picture” successor “Best Picture” award. It’s just that these films are competing against a lot of contradictory impulses. Will this year’s Best Picture be one like 2007’s No Country For Old Men – a film that will be watched 50 years from now? Or one like 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire: a film for which, six years later, we have to strain to recall what the fuss was about? This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Why Oscars are completely unreliable

&nbsp;Priyanka Chopra, who made waves when she appeared for two consecutive Academy Awards, has now gone beyond the red carpet appearances and will be announcing the Oscar nominations for this year. 
 
The Academy made the revelation as it shared pictures from the nominations shoot on Twitter. 
 
&quot;Behind the scenes with Priyanka Chopra. Tune in to the #OscarNoms announcement on Tuesday,&quot; the photograph&#39;s caption read.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Behind the scenes with <a href="https://twitter.com/priyankachopra?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@priyankachopra</a>. Tune in to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OscarNoms?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OscarNoms</a> announcement on Tuesday at 5:22am PT. <a href="https://t.co/dQfjBioyuy">pic.twitter.com/dQfjBioyuy</a>
&mdash; The Academy (@TheAcademy) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAcademy/status/954760438885113856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

Apart from Priyanka, Rosario Dawson, Rebel Willson, Michelle Yeoh and Michelle Rodriguez will introduce this year&#39;s Oscar nominations. 
 
Priyanka, who is currently attending the Sundance Film Festival, along with the cast of her second Hollywood venture, A Kid Like Jake, made her first Oscars appearance in 2016.&nbsp;

The Academy made the revelation as it shared pictures from the nominations shoot on Instagram.

Priyanka Chopra, who made waves when she appeared for two consecutive Academy Awards, has now gone beyond the red carpet appearances and will be announcing the Oscar nominations for this year. The Academy made the revelation as it shared pictures from the nominations shoot on Twitter. "Behind the scenes with Priyanka Chopra. Tune in to the #OscarNoms announcement on Tuesday," the photograph's caption read. Behind the scenes with @priyankachopra. Tune in to the #OscarNoms announcement on Tuesday at 5:22am PT. pic.twitter.com/dQfjBioyuy — The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 20, 2018 × Apart from Priyanka, Rosario Dawson, Rebel Willson, Michelle Yeoh and Michelle Rodriguez will introduce this year's Oscar nominations. Priyanka, who is currently attending the Sundance Film Festival, along with the cast of her second Hollywood venture, A Kid Like Jake, made her first Oscars appearance in 2016.

Priyanka Chopra to announce Oscar nominations on Tuesday

A Lebanese and a Syrian film director both made cinema history this week when their films became the first ever from their home countries to be nominated for Oscars. 
 
Ziad Doueri`s Lebanese drama The Insult,&nbsp;was nominated for best foreign language film, while Syrian Firas Fayyad`s Last Men in Aleppo,&nbsp;which focuses on the work of the White Helmets volunteer rescuers, was nominated for best documentary. 
 
The Insult,&nbsp;set in Beirut, is about a verbal slanging match between two individuals that leads to a highly publicised trial highlighting the sectarian tensions simmering in Lebanese society. 
 
&quot;It was such good news when we got it, because this is the first time Lebanon arrives to the Oscar and you know you offer a little bit of hope,&quot; Doueri told Reuters. &quot;It`s like winning a medal, it&rsquo;s like going to the Olympics and your team for the first time wins the bronze medal or the silver medal.&quot; 
 
The film is the first from Lebanon to be nominated for an Oscar since the small Mediterranean country began submitting movies for consideration in 1978. 
 
&quot;The Insult&quot; has been screened in Lebanon despite a boycott campaign prompted by the fact that Doueri made a previous film, The Attack,&nbsp;in Israel, with which his country remains in a technical state of war. 
 
Doueri was subsequently arrested and questioned by a military court, but was not charged with any offence. 
 
The other nominees for best foreign language film include A Fantastic Woman&nbsp;from Germany, Loveless&nbsp;from Russia, On Body and Soul&nbsp;from Hungary and The Square&nbsp;from Sweden. 
 
Fayyad, whose documentary follow the White Helmets group in a besieged Syrian city, told Reuters that he hoped the recognition would inspire others in his war-torn country. 
 
&quot;Well, it`s really great. I`m proud about that. It opens the road for other filmmakers and artists to think that there`s nothing impossible, especially in a time (when) your country is destroyed, your resources are less, and the people who could stand with you are less,&quot; he said, speaking in English. 
 
Syria first submitted a film for Oscar consideration last year, to no avail. Last Men in Aleppo&nbsp;faces competition from Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Faces Places, Icarus,&nbsp;and Strong Island. 
 
Another film about the White Helmets, eponymously titled, won the Oscar for documentary short film in 2017.

A Lebanese and a Syrian film director both made cinema history this week when their films became the first ever from their home countries to be nominated for Oscars.

A Lebanese and a Syrian film director both made cinema history this week when their films became the first ever from their home countries to be nominated for Oscars. Ziad Doueri`s Lebanese drama The Insult, was nominated for best foreign language film, while Syrian Firas Fayyad`s Last Men in Aleppo, which focuses on the work of the White Helmets volunteer rescuers, was nominated for best documentary. The Insult, set in Beirut, is about a verbal slanging match between two individuals that leads to a highly publicised trial highlighting the sectarian tensions simmering in Lebanese society. "It was such good news when we got it, because this is the first time Lebanon arrives to the Oscar and you know you offer a little bit of hope," Doueri told Reuters. "It`s like winning a medal, it’s like going to the Olympics and your team for the first time wins the bronze medal or the silver medal." The film is the first from Lebanon to be nominated for an Oscar since the small Mediterranean country began submitting movies for consideration in 1978. "The Insult" has been screened in Lebanon despite a boycott campaign prompted by the fact that Doueri made a previous film, The Attack, in Israel, with which his country remains in a technical state of war. Doueri was subsequently arrested and questioned by a military court, but was not charged with any offence. The other nominees for best foreign language film include A Fantastic Woman from Germany, Loveless from Russia, On Body and Soul from Hungary and The Square from Sweden. Fayyad, whose documentary follow the White Helmets group in a besieged Syrian city, told Reuters that he hoped the recognition would inspire others in his war-torn country. "Well, it`s really great. I`m proud about that. It opens the road for other filmmakers and artists to think that there`s nothing impossible, especially in a time (when) your country is destroyed, your resources are less, and the people who could stand with you are less," he said, speaking in English. Syria first submitted a film for Oscar consideration last year, to no avail. Last Men in Aleppo faces competition from Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Faces Places, Icarus, and Strong Island. Another film about the White Helmets, eponymously titled, won the Oscar for documentary short film in 2017.

Middle Eastern filmmakers celebrate historic Oscar nominations

Nominees for the Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 4, greeted the honours with surprise, gratitude and some serious thoughts about making movies. 
The following are some reactions - through statements, telephone calls and social media - to the Oscar nominations announced on Tuesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 
- 
Meryl Streep, best actress for &quot;The Post,&quot; her 21st nomination 
&quot;I am honoured beyond measure by this nomination for a film I love, a film that stands in defence of press freedom, and inclusion of women&rsquo;s voices in the movement of history - Proud of the film, and all her filmmakers. Thank you from a full heart.&rdquo;

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Meryl Streep in a still from The Post for which she has been nominated in the Best Actress category at the Oscars. (Others)
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Guillermo del Toro, nominated for director and original screenplay for &quot;The Shape of Water,&quot; which led the nominations with 13 nods including for best picture 
&quot;I feel incredibly happy and grateful and the best part is to be nominated with the team and see the craftmanship and artistry of the movie rewarded. For 25 years, I`ve been preaching that the dark poetry and emotion of my stories are fairytales for modern times. I truly believe they resonate with an audience in way that can only be accessible by saying `once upon a time.`&quot; 
- 
Jordan Peele, nominated for director and original screenplay for &quot;Get Out,&quot; which is also up for best picture 
&quot;It feels amazing to know that people not only have seen the film but really feel the film, and feel the experience I was trying to illustrate that`s really important to a lot of people. For so long, I`ve just wanted to be a director, my dream has been to make films, and for so long, I just thought the biggest and best reward that could even come from my first movie is that I might get to make another one. I still feel that way, but this is going to help with that.&quot; 
- 
Sally Hawkins, nominated for best actress for &quot;The Shape of Water&quot; 
&quot;I am so delighted for us all. To be honoured by the acknowledgement of my colleagues of fellow actors, filmmakers, writers, crew members is truly humbling. It is a privilege to tell such stories and to be able to make films that show there is a life beyond the life that people know &ndash; one that is not always seen.&quot;-

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Sally Hawkins in a still from Shape Of Water (Others)
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Christopher Plummer, best-supporting actor nominee for &quot;All the Money in the World&quot; 
&quot;I am absolutely thrilled to have received this nomination by the Academy. It was quite unexpected but incredibly gratifying. Everything has happened so quickly of late that I am still a trifled stunned but excited by it all.&quot;-&nbsp;

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Christopher Plummer in a still from All The Money In The World (Others)
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Gary Oldman, best actor nominee for &quot;Darkest Hour&quot; 
&ldquo;To have the chance to play an iconic leader like Winston Churchill at this point in my career, was the opportunity of a lifetime and I am so happy that my colleagues and partners on this wonderful film have also been honoured with nominations. I am overjoyed to be nominated, and proud to be part of this wonderful thing known as movie making!&rdquo; 
- 
Lesley Manville, best supporting actress nominee for &quot;Phantom Thread&quot; 
&quot;I am rather giddy with excitement at the wonderful news and extremely thankful ... It is also quite a day for my son Alfie Oldman - having both parents nominated in the same year.&rdquo; 
-&nbsp; 
Greta Gerwig, nominated for best director and best original screenplay for &quot;Lady Bird,&quot; which is also up for best picture 
&quot;This is an unbelievable honour and I am beside myself with joy and gratitude. The entire team who made `Lady Bird` poured their heart and soul into it, and I am so deeply grateful to the Academy for their recognition.&quot; 
- 
Saoirse Ronan, best actress nominee for &quot;Lady Bird&quot; 
&quot;To have been a part of a film like `Lady Bird` was a true privilege and I am incredibly grateful to the Academy for recognising this wonderful story about the beauty and strength of women.&quot; 
- 
Laurie Metcalf, best supporting actress nominee for &quot;Lady Bird&quot; 
&quot;It feels surreal. I never thought that this would ever happen. My career is not focussed on movies, I just didn`t see that this would ever be a possibility and so I owe that to Greta and Saoirse.&quot;&nbsp; 
- 
Richard Jenkins, best supporting actor nominee for &quot;The Shape of Water&quot; 
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so excited and thrilled by the nomination and for &ldquo;The Shape of Water&rdquo; team lead by Guillermo the Great. It is rare and humbling to be part of something so special.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
- 
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, nominated for original screenplay for &quot;The Big Sick&quot; 
&quot;It was an incredibly unique challenge to take some of the most vulnerable, painful, and beautiful moments from our life together and turn it into a movie. At times we worried it would be insurmountable, or would rip us apart, or even worse- that no one would like it. The fact that it connected with audiences is exhilarating, and this nomination proves that our love is real. We have decided to stay married.&quot;-

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Kumail Nanjiani in a still from The Big Sick (Others)
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Martin McDonagh, director of &ldquo;Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,&rdquo; which received seven nominations including best picture, best actress and best supporting actor 
&ldquo;I`m thrilled that our film has received seven nominations from the Academy, and that the beautiful work of our editor Jon Gregory, our composer Carter Burwell, my gentle brothers-in-arms Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, and our fearless leader Frances McDormand, have all been recognized so wonderfully.&quot; 
- 
Octavia Spencer, best supporting actress nominee for &quot;The Shape of Water&quot; 
&ldquo;My heart is bursting with pure elation for the cast and crew of `The Shape Of Water.` Guillermo has given us all a dream job and to be recognized by the Academy is so deeply moving.&rdquo;

Nominees for the Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 4, greeted the honours with surprise, gratitude and some serious thoughts about making movies.

Nominees for the Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 4, greeted the honours with surprise, gratitude and some serious thoughts about making movies. The following are some reactions - through statements, telephone calls and social media - to the Oscar nominations announced on Tuesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. - Meryl Streep, best actress for "The Post," her 21st nomination "I am honoured beyond measure by this nomination for a film I love, a film that stands in defence of press freedom, and inclusion of women’s voices in the movement of history - Proud of the film, and all her filmmakers. Thank you from a full heart.” Meryl Streep in a still from The Post for which she has been nominated in the Best Actress category at the Oscars. (Others) × Guillermo del Toro, nominated for director and original screenplay for "The Shape of Water," which led the nominations with 13 nods including for best picture "I feel incredibly happy and grateful and the best part is to be nominated with the team and see the craftmanship and artistry of the movie rewarded. For 25 years, I`ve been preaching that the dark poetry and emotion of my stories are fairytales for modern times. I truly believe they resonate with an audience in way that can only be accessible by saying `once upon a time.`" - Jordan Peele, nominated for director and original screenplay for "Get Out," which is also up for best picture "It feels amazing to know that people not only have seen the film but really feel the film, and feel the experience I was trying to illustrate that`s really important to a lot of people. For so long, I`ve just wanted to be a director, my dream has been to make films, and for so long, I just thought the biggest and best reward that could even come from my first movie is that I might get to make another one. I still feel that way, but this is going to help with that." - Sally Hawkins, nominated for best actress for "The Shape of Water" "I am so delighted for us all. To be honoured by the acknowledgement of my colleagues of fellow actors, filmmakers, writers, crew members is truly humbling. It is a privilege to tell such stories and to be able to make films that show there is a life beyond the life that people know – one that is not always seen."- Sally Hawkins in a still from Shape Of Water (Others) × Christopher Plummer, best-supporting actor nominee for "All the Money in the World" "I am absolutely thrilled to have received this nomination by the Academy. It was quite unexpected but incredibly gratifying. Everything has happened so quickly of late that I am still a trifled stunned but excited by it all."- Christopher Plummer in a still from All The Money In The World (Others) × Gary Oldman, best actor nominee for "Darkest Hour" “To have the chance to play an iconic leader like Winston Churchill at this point in my career, was the opportunity of a lifetime and I am so happy that my colleagues and partners on this wonderful film have also been honoured with nominations. I am overjoyed to be nominated, and proud to be part of this wonderful thing known as movie making!” - Lesley Manville, best supporting actress nominee for "Phantom Thread" "I am rather giddy with excitement at the wonderful news and extremely thankful ... It is also quite a day for my son Alfie Oldman - having both parents nominated in the same year.” - Greta Gerwig, nominated for best director and best original screenplay for "Lady Bird," which is also up for best picture "This is an unbelievable honour and I am beside myself with joy and gratitude. The entire team who made `Lady Bird` poured their heart and soul into it, and I am so deeply grateful to the Academy for their recognition." - Saoirse Ronan, best actress nominee for "Lady Bird" "To have been a part of a film like `Lady Bird` was a true privilege and I am incredibly grateful to the Academy for recognising this wonderful story about the beauty and strength of women." - Laurie Metcalf, best supporting actress nominee for "Lady Bird" "It feels surreal. I never thought that this would ever happen. My career is not focussed on movies, I just didn`t see that this would ever be a possibility and so I owe that to Greta and Saoirse." - Richard Jenkins, best supporting actor nominee for "The Shape of Water" “I’m so excited and thrilled by the nomination and for “The Shape of Water” team lead by Guillermo the Great. It is rare and humbling to be part of something so special.” - Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, nominated for original screenplay for "The Big Sick" "It was an incredibly unique challenge to take some of the most vulnerable, painful, and beautiful moments from our life together and turn it into a movie. At times we worried it would be insurmountable, or would rip us apart, or even worse- that no one would like it. The fact that it connected with audiences is exhilarating, and this nomination proves that our love is real. We have decided to stay married."- Kumail Nanjiani in a still from The Big Sick (Others) × Martin McDonagh, director of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which received seven nominations including best picture, best actress and best supporting actor “I`m thrilled that our film has received seven nominations from the Academy, and that the beautiful work of our editor Jon Gregory, our composer Carter Burwell, my gentle brothers-in-arms Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, and our fearless leader Frances McDormand, have all been recognized so wonderfully." - Octavia Spencer, best supporting actress nominee for "The Shape of Water" “My heart is bursting with pure elation for the cast and crew of `The Shape Of Water.` Guillermo has given us all a dream job and to be recognized by the Academy is so deeply moving.”

Surprise, gratitude and pride: Stars react to their Oscar nominations

Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards announced late Tuesday night (India time), revealing which movies of 2017 made it to the coveted list.&nbsp;

Guillermo del Toro&#39;s &quot;The Shape of Water&quot; leads the nomination list with 13 nominations, including Best Picture. The mystical romantic film is just one short of making the record for the most in Academy Awards history.&nbsp;

It is a low-budget fantasy&nbsp;about a mute janitor who falls in love with an imprisoned sea creature.&nbsp;

Following the romantic film, is Christopher Nolan&#39;s &quot;Dunkirk&quot; on the historical battle on Dunkirk beach during World War time. Dunkirk received a total of eight nominations including Best Picture.&nbsp;

Emerging strong as an Oscar contender, based on the real-life incident,&nbsp;&ldquo;Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri&rdquo; got nominated in seven categories, including one for Best Picture.&nbsp;

&quot;Lady Bird&quot; with its nuanced&nbsp;mother-daughter relationship and self-confident central character also found a place in the nominations.&nbsp;

Among nominations for best performances,&nbsp;Frances McDormand, a four-time nominee and a winner for &ldquo;Fargo&rdquo; in 1997, was nominated for her lead performance in &ldquo;Three Billboards.&rdquo; She won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for the role.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/live-oscar-nominations-in-cinematography-announced-30527" target="_blank">Also Read:&nbsp;Oscar nominations: Dunkirk, The Shape of Water dominate list</a>

Completing the list were&nbsp;Saoirse Ronan for &ldquo;Lady Bird,&rdquo; Sally Hawkins for &ldquo;The Shape of Water,&rdquo; Margot Robbie for &ldquo;I, Tonya&rdquo;&nbsp;and Meryl Streep for &ldquo;The Post&rdquo;.

In Best Actor category, Gary Oldman&rsquo;s performance as Winston Churchill in &ldquo;Darkest Hour&rdquo;, Timoth&eacute;e Chalamet in &ldquo;Call Me by Your Name&rdquo;, Daniel Kaluuya in &ldquo;Get Out&rdquo;, Daniel Day-Lewis in &ldquo;Phantom Thread&rdquo;&nbsp;and Denzel Washington in &ldquo;Roman J. Israel, Esq.&rdquo; were nominated.

It is interesting to note that James Franco from &ldquo;The Disaster Artist&rdquo; was&nbsp;left out. His inclusion would have started a debate around his accusations and the Academy made a smart move by not nominating him.&nbsp;

For Best Director, the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro for &ldquo;The Shape of Water&rdquo; made it along with Paul Thomas Anderson for &ldquo;Phantom Thread&rdquo; and Christopher Nolan for &ldquo;Dunkirk&rdquo;.

&nbsp;

The 90th Academy Awards will take place on March 4, 2018

Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards announced late Tuesday night (India time), revealing which movies of 2017 made it to the coveted list. Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" leads the nomination list with 13 nominations, including Best Picture. The mystical romantic film is just one short of making the record for the most in Academy Awards history. It is a low-budget fantasy about a mute janitor who falls in love with an imprisoned sea creature. Following the romantic film, is Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" on the historical battle on Dunkirk beach during World War time. Dunkirk received a total of eight nominations including Best Picture. Emerging strong as an Oscar contender, based on the real-life incident, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” got nominated in seven categories, including one for Best Picture. "Lady Bird" with its nuanced mother-daughter relationship and self-confident central character also found a place in the nominations. Among nominations for best performances, Frances McDormand, a four-time nominee and a winner for “Fargo” in 1997, was nominated for her lead performance in “Three Billboards.” She won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for the role. Also Read: Oscar nominations: Dunkirk, The Shape of Water dominate list Completing the list were Saoirse Ronan for “Lady Bird,” Sally Hawkins for “The Shape of Water,” Margot Robbie for “I, Tonya” and Meryl Streep for “The Post”. In Best Actor category, Gary Oldman’s performance as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour”, Timothée Chalamet in “Call Me by Your Name”, Daniel Kaluuya in “Get Out”, Daniel Day-Lewis in “Phantom Thread” and Denzel Washington in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” were nominated. It is interesting to note that James Franco from “The Disaster Artist” was left out. His inclusion would have started a debate around his accusations and the Academy made a smart move by not nominating him. For Best Director, the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro for “The Shape of Water” made it along with Paul Thomas Anderson for “Phantom Thread” and Christopher Nolan for “Dunkirk”.

2018 Oscar nominations: 'Shape of Water' leads with 13, 'Dunkirk', 'Three Billboards' follow

Tigmanshu Dhulia&#39;s romantic drama Milan Talkies has gone through several changes since the time of its inception. Names of actors Shahid Kapoor, Ayushman Khurana and Aditya Roy Kapur did the rounds for the film&#39;s lead role and now the makers have finally zeroed in on Ali Fazal.

Sources say that Ali has read the script and given a thumbs up to it and will commence shooting for the film from March. &quot;He has given his dates and Tigmanshu is currently on the lookout for the leading lady. It is set in North India and Ali will start shooting in the second week of March after he returns from the Academy Awards ceremony to be held on March 4,&quot; said the source close to the actor. 
 
Meanwhile, Ali is soon going to take off to the U.S. to work on his next International project after impressing one and all in Victoria &amp; Abdul. The actor will also attend the Oscars as Victoria&amp;Abdul has been nominated in two prestigious categories.&nbsp; 
 
Ali, in fact, has a packed 2018. The actor recently wrapped up the shooting for Prakash Raj&rsquo;s Tadka with Nana Patekar, Taapsee Pannu and Shriya Saran, and soon will be starting his reading sessions for Milan Talkies. 
He will also be seen opposite Diana Penty once again in the official sequel of 2016&#39;s hit comedy Happy Bhaag Jayegi.

Fazal will start working on the film from March onwards after he is back from attending the Oscars.

Tigmanshu Dhulia's romantic drama Milan Talkies has gone through several changes since the time of its inception. Names of actors Shahid Kapoor, Ayushman Khurana and Aditya Roy Kapur did the rounds for the film's lead role and now the makers have finally zeroed in on Ali Fazal. Sources say that Ali has read the script and given a thumbs up to it and will commence shooting for the film from March. "He has given his dates and Tigmanshu is currently on the lookout for the leading lady. It is set in North India and Ali will start shooting in the second week of March after he returns from the Academy Awards ceremony to be held on March 4," said the source close to the actor. Meanwhile, Ali is soon going to take off to the U.S. to work on his next International project after impressing one and all in Victoria & Abdul. The actor will also attend the Oscars as Victoria&Abdul has been nominated in two prestigious categories. Ali, in fact, has a packed 2018. The actor recently wrapped up the shooting for Prakash Raj’s Tadka with Nana Patekar, Taapsee Pannu and Shriya Saran, and soon will be starting his reading sessions for Milan Talkies. He will also be seen opposite Diana Penty once again in the official sequel of 2016's hit comedy Happy Bhaag Jayegi.

Ali Fazal roped in for Tigmanshu Dhulia's next 'Milan Talkies'

Director Amit Masurkar&#39;s political satire &quot;Newton&quot;, starring Rajkummar Rao in the lead role, is India&#39;s official entry at Oscars 2018.

The Film Federation of India (FFI), which announced the news today, said film was the unanimous choice of its selection committee headed by Telugu producer CV Reddy.

&quot;Newton&quot; has been selected as India&#39;s official entry to the Oscars. It was unanimously chosen from 26 entries this year,&quot; FFI secretary general Supran Sen told PTI.

An ecstatic Rajkummar Rao called the decision to choose the film -- which hit theatres today -- the proverbial &quot;cherry on the cake&quot;.

&quot;It is a really honest film and we are already getting an overwhelming response. We will put all our energies to take the film forward,&quot; the actor told PTI.

Amit Masurkar said the news &quot;doubles the happiness.&quot;

&quot;We are really happy. The fact that the film is releasing today doubles the happiness. We hope that people will now really head to the cinema halls to watch the film,&quot; the director told PTI.

Newton is a political satire which around an honest election officer&#39;s attempt to conduct a free and fair poll in a conflict-hit area of Chhattisgarh.

The film co-stars Pankaj Tripathi, Raghubir Yadav and Anjali Patil.

&quot;Newton&quot; is Masurkar&#39;s second film as director after the 2014&#39;s &quot;Sulemani Keeda&quot;.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

The film is a political satire revolving around an honest election officer's attempt to conduct a free and fair poll in a conflict-hit area of Chhattisgarh

Director Amit Masurkar's political satire "Newton", starring Rajkummar Rao in the lead role, is India's official entry at Oscars 2018. The Film Federation of India (FFI), which announced the news today, said film was the unanimous choice of its selection committee headed by Telugu producer CV Reddy. "Newton" has been selected as India's official entry to the Oscars. It was unanimously chosen from 26 entries this year," FFI secretary general Supran Sen told PTI. An ecstatic Rajkummar Rao called the decision to choose the film -- which hit theatres today -- the proverbial "cherry on the cake". "It is a really honest film and we are already getting an overwhelming response. We will put all our energies to take the film forward," the actor told PTI. Amit Masurkar said the news "doubles the happiness." "We are really happy. The fact that the film is releasing today doubles the happiness. We hope that people will now really head to the cinema halls to watch the film," the director told PTI. Newton is a political satire which around an honest election officer's attempt to conduct a free and fair poll in a conflict-hit area of Chhattisgarh. The film co-stars Pankaj Tripathi, Raghubir Yadav and Anjali Patil. "Newton" is Masurkar's second film as director after the 2014's "Sulemani Keeda".

'Newton' is India's official entry to Oscars 2018

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