Box Office: Neon Touts ‘Sentimental Value,’ ‘Secret Agent’ and a Myriad of Other Milestones on Eve of Oscars

Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Rarely was a non-English-language film nominated for the Oscar for best picture until Bong Joon Ho ‘s Parasite won the top prize in 2020. This year, two are competing in the top category — Brazil’s The Secret Agent and Norway’s Sentimental Value . The trio — alongside last year’s surprise best picture victor, the English-language drama Anora — share a common bond: Neon , the indie distribution outfit run by Tom Quinn , whose keen taste and maverick style have led him to success both at the box office and the world’s most prestigious awards shows. Neon heads into Sunday’s 98th Oscar ceremony on March 25 with 18 nominations, the second-most of any distributor behind the 30 bestowed Warner Bros. , home of best picture frontrunners Sinners , directed by Ryan Coogler, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another . (Warners’ count also includes Zach Cregger’s Weapons .) Related Stories Movies Box Office: 'Hoppers' Stays No. 1 With $28M-$30M, Moviegoers Embrace Colleen Hoover's 'Reminders of Him' News Fortress Hollywood: Inside the Oscars Security Machine The fact that a major Hollywood studio has two films up for best picture is a rare feat in moden times, and a testament to motion picture group co-heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who have tried to push the boundaries in building a more varied slate (they also recently hired several top Neon execs). No one is sure, however, what the landscape will look like once David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance closes his deal to buy Warners. He says he’ll keep the two studios separate, but what that means in terms of the executive ranks remains unclear. Quinn’s mantra when launching Neon in 2017 was to target younger moviegoers who would be more open-minded when it came to foreign-language films, ...