By Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES, March 15 (Reuters) – Warner Bros emerged as the biggest winner at the Academy Awards on Sunday, though the mood was clouded by its pending $110 billion sale to Paramount Skydance, a deal reshaping Hollywood’s studio landscape.
The studio received 11 Oscars, led by “One Battle After Another,” a tale of violent resistance in a dystopian America, which received six awards, including for best picture, director and supporting actor. “Sinners,” Warner Bros’ genre-defying fantasia set in the Jim Crow South, collected four Academy Awards, including lead actor.
“I want to thank Warner Bros,” said Michael B. Jordan, who won the best actor Oscar for playing twin brothers in “Sinners,” lauding the studio for “betting on original ideas and artistry.”
Warner Bros became the focus of a months-long bidding war between Paramount Skydance and Netflix for the studio’s corporate parent, Warner Bros Discovery. Paramount CEO David Ellison prevailed with a higher bid, backed by his billionaire father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
The deal will merge two of Hollywood’s storied studios, narrowing the ranks of major film players at a time of accelerating consolidation and mounting pressure from streaming rivals, labor unrest and higher costs.
“It will be impossible to ignore that we will be celebrating the achievements of filmmaking with one less studio on the horizon,” said veteran Hollywood marketing executive Terry Press. “It’s gut-wrenching.”
Hollywood has already been shaken by a drawn-out industry strike and the specter of artificial intelligence taking jobs. The prospect of studio consolidation has left the industry on edge as Paramount eyes $6 billion in cost savings from the deal.
Ellison has pledged to deliver a total of 30 films a year, evenly split between Paramount and Warner Bros, which delivered a slate of box-office-topping hits last year, including “Superman” and “A Minecraft Movie.”
Streaming service Netflix received a total of seven Academy Awards, led by Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, “Frankenstein.” It garnered three Oscars: for hair and makeup, production and costume design. Netflix also won the Oscar for animated feature film for “KPop Demon Hunters,” and best song from that film.
NBCUniversal received a total of 13 Oscar nominations across three films from Focus Features, and one nomination for Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World Rebirth.” Its Focus Features unit received an Academy Award for lead actress for Jessie Buckley’s portrayal of Agnes in “Hamnet.”
Independent film powerhouse A24’s film about a table-tennis shark, “Marty Supreme,” received nine nominations, including for best picture, director and lead actor, and was knocked out of the competition by Oscar voters.
Walt Disney’s 20th Century Studios received a single visual effects Oscar for “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” after receiving a total of five nominations. Tech giant Apple, which collected a record 15 Primetime Emmy Awards in the fall, received an Academy Award for best sound.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Howard Goller and Nick Zieminski)
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