Watch out, Diane Warren. That 17th Oscar nomination may not be in the bag yet. A super-competitive Original Song year just got more intriguing after 20th Century Studios revealed that Miley Cyrus is singing a new track from James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” The new song, “Dream as One,” was written by Cyrus as well as Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and Simon Franglen.
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That being said, 20th Century Studios and Walt Disney Studios have made it clear that “Dream as One” appears in the end credits. Traditionally, that has hampered many songs from landing an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Academy rules state a song is eligible “as the first music cue in the end credits,” but Music branch members judge them “in context” of the film. That being said, the end title track “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight” made the cut last year. Perhaps that’s due to the persuasive power of that song’s writer, Ms. Warren.
Ronson and Wyatt are no strangers to the Oscars, having won in 2019 for “Shallow” from “A Star is Born.” They were also nominated in 2023 for “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie” but lost to another song from Greta Gerwig’s smash, “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. Franglen is the composer of “Fire and Ash” and also scored “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Cyrus, along with Wyatt, was arguably robbed of a nomination for the original song “Beautiful This Way” from “The Last Showgirl” earlier this year. They co-wrote the track with Lykke Li, which earned a Golden Globe nomination.
Other films hoping to make the Original Song category include “Wicked for Good,” “The Testament of Ann Lee,” “Sinners,” “Train Dreams,” “Highest 2 Lowest,” “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” “Snow White,” and, “Kpop Demon Hunters,” which has one of the biggest songs of the year in “Golden.” Oh, and yes, Warren is attempting another nomination with “Dear Me” from a documentary about her life, “Diane Warren: Relentless.”
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” opens nationwide on Dec. 19
