Meet This Year's Potential Best Picture Contenders
The decorations at your local mall may say "Christmas," but the movie release schedule suggests a different time of year: Awards Season. The next five weeks will introduce some heavy hitters—including new films from David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino, Todd Haynes, and Alejandro González Iñárritu—into what is already shaping up to be a crowded field of contenders. Actually, history suggests that the next best picture winner may already be playing in a theater near you. No December release has won the top Oscar in over a decade.
With that in mind, browse our quick guide to the 25 films that still appear to be in the running for best picture consideration, including titles released earlier this year as well as those arriving over the next month.
Netflix's first-ever narrative feature film (which opened in theaters the same day it went live on the streaming service) comes from Cary Fukunaga, best known for directing the good season of HBO's True Detective, and stars Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther). The adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala's 2005 novel about child soldiers in West Africa impressed critics at Venice, and it will certainly be the easiest contender for Academy voters to track down and see.