For weeks now, we’ve known (or at least predicted) that Alfonso Cuaron’s love-letter to his childhood, “Roma,” would secure Netflix with its first-ever Best Picture Oscar nomination. And this morning, that was confirmed, as the drama picked up a whopping 10 Oscar nominations. While Netflix is probably celebrating quite heavily thanks to the morning’s proceedings, there’s one group that is excluding “Roma” from the same recognition the other seven nominees are enjoying – the major theater chains.
As is the tradition with the major theatrical chains like AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, this year the Best Picture nominees will take part in a special Oscars recognition event. Well, all the nominees but one – “Roma.” Because of how “Roma” was released, with Netflix releasing the film in a select number of independent theaters (the major chains refused to show it, for a variety of reasons) a few weeks before making its debut on the streaming service, the Cuaron film is being snubbed from the Oscars pseudo-film festivals that the chains are putting on in the next month.
AMC released the following statement (via Deadline):
“For more than a decade, movie-lovers have enjoyed the AMC Best Picture Showcase to catch up on the nominated films that played at AMC throughout the prior year. This year, Academy members nominated a film that was never licensed to AMC to play in our theatres. As such, it is not included in the AMC Best Picture Showcase.”
READ MORE: ‘Roma’ Gives Netflix Its First Best Picture Nominee
Regal confirmed that the company will also not include “Roma” in its special event. Cinemark has not made the confirmation but Deadline reports that the company will also join Regal and AMC with its ban of the Netflix film.
So, while “Roma” broke through with the Academy and became a massive win for Netflix, the film still has its fair share of detractors, especially among theater exhibitors. It’ll be interesting to see if this happens again next year.