Hollywood rolls out the red carpet for Sunday\u2019s Oscars, the film industry\u2019s highest honours, with an unusually open best-picture race that pits vampire hit Sinners, \u200bthe leader in nominations, against the darkly comic thriller One Battle After Another. Security for the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre will be \u200ctight. Organisers said they were working closely with the FBI and Los Angeles police after a federal warning of a possible Iranian threat against California, though authorities have cited no specific or credible danger to the Academy Awards. Hosted by Conan O\u2019Brien for a second year, the festivities will feature a wide-open contest led by Sinners with 16 nominations \u2014 a record number in the \u200bnearly 100-year-old history of the Oscars \u2014 as Hollywood grapples with geopolitical tensions, industry consolidation and anxiety over artificial intelligence. The show, starting at 7 \u200bpm ET (midnight GMT), will be televised live on Walt Disney\u2019s ABC and streamed on Hulu. Performers will include the \u2060real-life singers of HUNTR\/X, the fictional band in animated film nominee KPop Demon Hunters. The glitzy celebration, Hollywood\u2019s most over-the-top gala of the year, will take place \u200bas the US wages war on Iran. O\u2019Brien said he planned to touch on current events but his primary mission was to make people laugh and feel at \u200bease. \u201cMy job is to hit this very, very thin line, I think, between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,\u201d he told a press conference on Wednesday. \u201cAll I can say is I\u2019ll use my best judgment.\u201d The ceremony masks the unease in the film business over where movies are being made as studios chase tax incentives and lower \u200bcosts elsewhere in the US. and overseas, weakening Hollywood\u2019s grip on production. Warner Bros., the studio behind One Battle and Sinners, is in the process of being sold \u200bto Paramount Skydance, in a deal that will narrow the ranks of major film distributors. A media watchdog group, Free Press, circulated a roving billboard around Hollywood over the \u200cweekend, airing \u2060its opposition to the merger. Workers in front of and behind the camera are worried that artificial intelligence will limit job opportunities and stifle creativity and risk-taking. Potential for surprisesThis year\u2019s awards contest holds an unusually high potential for surprises. The race for best actor is an especially unpredictable one, pitting Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet against Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan. Chalamet had been considered a frontrunner for his acclaimed performance as a ping-pong hustler in Marty Supreme, but his prospects seemed to dim \u200bover an awards-season campaign featuring a \u200bstreetwear line and a giant blimp \u2060and remarks dismissing ballet and opera. One Battle After Another, starring DiCaprio as a one-time political radical now parenting a teenager, was seen as the frontrunner for best picture after stacking up trophy after trophy at recent ceremonies. But Sinners, a celebration \u200bof blues music and Black culture in the Segregation-era US South starring Jordan, made a late surge with \u200ba win this month at \u2060the Actor Awards. Jessie Buckley is considered a lock for best actress for her portrayal of Agnes Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, as the couple navigate the death of their 11-year-old son in Hamnet. Awards experts say the rest of the top categories are up for grabs. Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly \u206010,000 actors, \u200bproducers, directors and \u200dfilm craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The \u200bAcademy took steps this year to try to ensure voters have actually watched the movies they are voting on. The online balloting system, for the first time, tracks whether a voter has streamed \u200beach movie. Voters, however, can check a box to say they watched the movie elsewhere outside the Academy website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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