A bumpy road to the Oscars could end in triumph for Netflix

The most tumultuous Oscar season in memory might pale in comparison to the aftermath.

The best picture race to Sunday's 91st Academy Awards remains unpredictable, but odds makers peg Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" as the film most likely to triumph at the end of the night. That would hand Netflix, the insurgent steaming service, the most prestigious honor in a movie business it has thoroughly disrupted.

Change is everywhere at this year's Academy Awards, from the nominees to the show, itself. For the second time in 30 years, there will be no host at Sunday's show, which begins airing live on ABC at 8 p.m. EST. The lead-up to the Oscars has been dominated by dispute over the academy's own attempts at innovation to counter last year's record-low ratings. But after uproar from academy members, those plans — not showing some awards live, introducing a "best popular film" category — were all abandoned.

This image released by Netflix shows Yalitza Aparicio, center, in a scene from the film "Roma," by filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron. The film is nominated for an Oscar for both best foreign language film and best picture. The 91st Academy Awards will be held on Sunday. (Carlos SomonteNetflix via AP)

But even if the Oscars end up proceeding more conventionally, the winners promise to be untraditional. Marvel stands to win its first Oscar for either "Black Panther" (up for six Oscars including best picture) or the animated favorite, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse." Spike Lee, aiming for his first competitive Oscar, could become the first black filmmaker to win best director.

"Roma," which comes in with a co-leading 10 nominations, is favored to win best picture, best director, best cinematography and best foreign language film. If "Roma" won best picture, it would be the first foreign language movie ever to do so.

For Hollywood, the most significant milestone would be Netflix triumphing at the Academy Awards, an achievement the streaming giant has fervently sought. Netflix, which has previously only won one feature-length film Oscar (in 2018 for the documentary "Icarus"), has spent more than $25 million on a lavish campaign to propel "Roma." It hired veteran Oscar campaign strategist Lisa Taback. It even purchased a Los Angeles billboard company to help promote its many films and series, including "for your consideration" ads along the Sunset Strip for "Roma."

This image released by Focus Features shows Adam Driver, left, and John David Washington in a scene from "BlacKkKlansman." The film is nominated for an Oscar for best picture. The 91st Academy Awards will be held on Sunday. (David LeeFocus Features via AP)

"I'm very grateful for Netflix," Cuaron said in an interview ahead of the Oscars. "On paper, this is a film that wouldn't have this life. It's a Mexican film in Spanish and Mixtec with no recognizable actors when it was done. Black and white. A drama. What I'm so appreciative is that they saw through all those filters to the core of what the film was about and they saw the potential and they really believed in the film."

Cuaron noted that "Roma" has played for months in theaters, longer than it might otherwise have done. Major theater chains, however, have refused to screen Netflix releases since the company won't adhere to the traditional 90-day theatrical exclusivity window. Netflix altered its own policies for "Roma," playing it exclusively in theaters in limited release for three weeks before streaming it. The company declined to release box-office results.

"Roma" would be the first best picture winner ever to be primarily streamed, something some in Hollywood vehemently oppose. Steven Spielberg has said Netflix movies are really "TV movies" that should be eligible for Emmys, not Oscars.

This image released by Twentieth Century Fox shows Gwilym Lee, from left, Rami Malek and Joe Mazzello in a scene from "Bohemian Rhapsody." The film is nominated for an Oscar for best picture. The 91st Academy Awards will be held on Sunday. (Alex BaileyTwentieth Century Fox via AP)

After "Roma" won best picture at the British Academy Film Awards, J. Timothy Richards, the founder and chief executive of Vue, one of Europe's largest theater chains, criticized the British film academy for "choosing to endorse and promote a 'made for TV' film." France's Cannes Film Festival, where "Roma" was set to make its world premiere, also refused to enter any film without theatrical distribution into competition, causing Netflix to pull "Roma" from the festival.

"I think this kind of exclusivity for the theater and theatrical experience is actually disconnecting people from movies, in a way," Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer said in December. "I have not found it to be very consumer-friendly that consumers who live nowhere near a theater are waiting ... to see a movie so that the theater can have it exclusively for a period of time — a movie that they paid to produce with their subscription money."

Winning best picture would prove to the filmmakers Netflix is trying to attract that their releases can garner just as much respect as traditional ones. Netflix, which last year spent $12 billion on original content for its 139 million subscribers, will this year release (among many other films) Martin Scorsese's much-anticipated "The Irishman."

This image released by Disney shows a scene from Marvel Studios' "Black Panther." The film is nominated for an Oscar for best picture. The 91st Academy Awards will be held on Sunday. (Matt KennedyMarvel Studios-Disney via AP)

Oscar producers, though, are looking to emphasize box-office hits like "Black Panther" and "Bohemian Rhapsody." The show will start with a performance by Queen and Adam Lambert.

"(The nominations) kind of go to the heart of what we were trying to do with this show, which was put a spotlight on films with worldwide success that have had a cultural impact," Oscars co-producer Donna Gigliotti said Thursday, citing best-picture nominees "Black Panther," ''Bohemian Rhapsody," ''BlacKkKlansman" and "Green Book."

More streaming services are coming. Disney, WarnerMedia and Apple are all set to launch their own streaming platforms this year. In some ways, Netflix has already been welcomed into the fold. On the same day of Oscar nominations, Netflix became the first streaming service to join the industry lobbying group the Motion Picture Association of America. The only other members of the MPAA are the six major studios, soon to be five when Disney absorbs 20th Century Fox.

"The platforms are part of our conversation but soon they're not going to be part of the conversation," said Cuaron, "because it's going to be the norm."

AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

For full coverage of the Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/AcademyAwards

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)