The current Oscar race looks set to go to the wire, at least if the boosted performance of several of its indie contenders is anything to go by. Under any Oscar conditions, The Zone of Interest would have a keen advantage in both subject matter and distribution. It certainly hasn’t been overlooked, with 5 shiny nominations in the bag and a distributor who took home the Best Picture crown last year. This year is seeing some amazingly orchestrated Oscar campaigns from indie titles, however, including expanded releases in the run-up to the ceremony. Our Blake & Wang P.A the. entertainment attorney in Los Angeles, Brandon Blake, examines The Zone of Interest’s current performance.
Strong Awards Performance
In the run-up to the Oscars, The Zone of Interest has had a stunning awards season run. With an impressive number of BAFTAs now in the bag, it has done fantastically at the London Film Critics Circle Awards and many more, too. The Oscars is an arena in which ‘recency [1] bias’, or being the last watched film by the voting panel, is known to play a role. This is likely why A24 chose to hold the film until a mid-December release, despite it winning the Grand Prix at Cannes in May and performing strongly through the fall festivals. This is also the reason why it was pushed out to escape the Poor Things release weekend it was originally scheduled for. Let’s not even mention that Cannes prominence is always helpful in an Oscar campaign.
Strong Box Office Performance
Foreign-language films with dark subjects aren’t usually box office hits. However, The Zone of Interest has also managed a strong release performance and, surprisingly, performed well among younger audiences as well. It is still going strong in many big markets, too, with a domestic gross of around $4.6M. However, Parasite is still the only foreign-language film to take home the Oscar crown. Does The Zone of Interest have what it takes to become No. 2? Until the March 11 ceremony, we can only speculate. Its chances are looking good, however.
Film and Television 