POPULAR movies made a spectacular comeback at the Oscars – with sequels Top Gun and Avatar both nominated for Best Picture.
It is the first time in Oscars history that more than one film in this category has grossed over £1.2billion worldwide.
Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick has taken £1.2bn at the global box office so far[/caption]
Avatar has taken in over £1.6billion worldwide since its release last month[/caption]
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Angela Bassett, 64, is also the first to earn an acting nomination for a Marvel superhero movie – for Best Supporting Actress.
Academy bosses hope the inclusion of popular films will give a boost to the televised ceremony, which has struggled to attract viewers in recent years.
Last year was the second least-watched Oscars in history.
This year’s event, which will take place in Los Angeles on March 12, will likely attract more attention by including nominations for popular films such as The Batman and Elvis.
Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick has taken in £1.2 billion at the global box office so far.
It’s the first time one of his films has been nominated for an Oscar since Magnolia in 2000.
Avatar has taken in over £1.6bn worldwide since its release last month.
Angela Bassett is also the first to earn an acting nomination for a Marvel superhero movie[/caption]
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is up for best picture, while frontman Austin Butler, 31, has one of eight film academy nominations[/caption]
The £100million production of ‘The Batman’ has been plagued with delays[/caption]
The film overtook Spider-Man: No Way Home and Jurassic World on the list of highest-grossing films of all time.
Despite the success of the Avatar sequel, director James Cameron, 68, is not nominated.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is in the running for best picture, while frontman Austin Butler, 31, has one of the film’s eight nominations, for best actor.
The sci-fi film Everything Everywhere All at Once is the most nominated film, with 11.
All Quiet on the Western Front and the Banshees Of Inisherin have nine.
Brad Pitt, 59, and Margot Robbie, 32, were among the shocking rebuffs as neither they nor their film Babylon were nominated.
And no woman is nominated for Best Director, having won for the past two years.
Sun film critic Dulcie Pearce said: “It’s great to finally see the popularity rather than the pretentious nomination.”
Film buff Adam LeKang tweeted: “Looks like the blockbuster is back in power.”
