Netflix: Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts… why will the platform release its films with star casts before the end of the year?

Awards season has already begun, and Netflix doesn’t plan on being left behind. In 2021, the platform collected a record number of Oscar nominations: 36! and no less than seven awards. In 2023, for the 95th ceremony, it won six statues – including four for Nothing New in the West, which was crowned Best Foreign Language Film.

At the end of each year, it can bring a lot of income. For a contender like Netflix, winning an Oscar means gaining credibility and power at the center of the industry — a worthy challenge, as the platform is now considered a veritable studio in its own right.

In order to compete, you must match prestigious films with dream castings. The star-studded festival kicked off with The Killer, David Fincher’s film with Michael Fassbender, which was released on November 11. But what other feature films can get people talking?

The world after us

The name Sam Esmail may mean nothing to you, but he is the creator of the Mr. Robot series. In the thriller The World After Us, adapted from Rumaan Alam’s novel of the same name, a family vacationing in a lofty home discovers that a cyber attack has taken the country by storm. Who is behind this manipulation and for what purpose?

Armed with an excellent cast – Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke and Kevin Bacon to name a few – this technological thriller can rely on its brilliant direction to charm the public and critics alike. Unlike Don’t Look Up, The World After Us seems to be pretty much ignored in the awards race at the moment, but there’s no doubt that the film will turn the brains of the audience.

Maestro

After the directorial triumph of A Star Is Born, his first film, Bradley Cooper returns to the front and behind the camera with Maestro, a biopic about musician Leonard Bernstein – author and composer of the musical West Side Story. Instead of telling his entire life in the style of a Wikipedia page, this film focuses mainly on his love story with Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan, and his bisexuality.

The Oscars have always loved great performances by actors and actresses who were willing to spend hours in the makeup chair to transform themselves. This is the case of Bradley Cooper, who, in order to transform himself into Leonard Bernstein, spent more than five hours with the film’s artists to become unrecognizable. As a star is born, the criticism is justified. Bradley Cooper should have every chance at the upcoming ceremony.

snow circle

In 1972, a plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes. 17 of the 45 passengers died in the crash, 12 more during the two months that the victims were left to fend for themselves in the middle of nowhere. This nightmare, which has already been told twice in the cinema, is now directed by JA Bayona, the Spanish director of The Orphanage and The Impossible.

Extreme drama means extreme filming as the entire team arrived at the scene to shoot the film. The result is stunning, both visually and emotionally. A snow circle may be nothing new in the West and make for a surprise at the Oscars. The film has already been shortlisted for Spain.

Rebel Moon

Changing the register this time with the blockbuster Rebel Moon signed by Zack Snyder. The director is no stranger to blockbuster films. It has been in development for over 20 years and was originally intended to be part of the Star Wars universe. The story follows a badass heroine played by Sofia Boutella, whose mission is to protect a colony on a distant moon.

There’s little chance that Rebel Moon will do well at the Oscars unless it steals the statue for Best Visual Effects. But with this film, Netflix hopes to find its first true cinematic saga that can truly compete with the big Hollywood studios.