Other big nomination-getters included Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel that especially drew plaudits for its emotionally demanding performances. (Jessie Buckley, who plays a grief-stricken mother, has been the presumed front-runner for Best Actress since awards season began.) A24’s gamble on a big-budget table-tennis epic paid off, with Marty Supreme earning nine nominations; not only has the film become the indie studio’s highest-grossing release ever, but its star, Timothée Chalamet, is also tipped for Best Actor. Meanwhile, Apple’s hit sports drama F1, which collected four nods, including Best Picture, is the closest thing to a typical blockbuster contender. Two box-office smashes that once seemed like guarantees, meanwhile, are absent from Best Picture, namely Avatar: Fire and Ash and Wicked: For Good; the sequel to last year’s Oscar-winning Wicked blanked entirely this year. Handing out nominations to a film headed up by a big name like Brad Pitt—as well as several of his movie-star peers, such as One Battle After Another’s lead, Leonardo DiCaprio; Michael B. Jordan, who plays two roles in Sinners; and Emma Stone, for Yorgos Lanthimos’s acidic satire Bugonia—guarantees a glitzier show, which is vital to the point of the Oscars: The ceremony is essentially an advertisement for the act of theatergoing.