Is 'One Battle's Critics Choice Win An Oscar Preview?; 'Avatar' Passes $1B; Comcast Completes Versant Spin

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View on web New reader? Subscribe SUBSCRIBE. IT'S FREE. CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS ANALYSIS: IT'S ONE WIN AFTER ANOTHER FOR PTA PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON'S 'ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER' EMERGES AS AN AWARDS SEASON JUGGERNAUT There can be a lingering hope of changing fortunes as the awards season rolls along for those who keep losing precursor awards to the same people. For eventual Oscar winners, however, the die can be cast right from the first of these many ceremonies, since other voting groups — including the all-important industry awards — sometimes follow right in unison.  If tradition holds, we may be able to look back and say the Critics Choice Awards was not just a good night, but a very prescient one for Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Amy Madigan (Weapons) and Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein). This quartet managed the neat trick of scoring key acting triumphs for four different movies, none of which were the eventual Best Picture winner. That honor went to Paul Thomas Anderson’s juggernaut, One Battle After Another, which has a perfect track record on the critics circuit so far this year. It has always come up at the end and been named Best Picture. Every. Single. Time. >>>Pete Hammond's Take Related:  Full Winners List Chelsea Handler Pays Tribute To Rob Reiner, Goes After David Zaslav In Opening Monologue Deadline Exclusives & Originals 10 Big Stories For 2026  - The fact there were two New Year’s ball drops in Times Square this year, one for 2026 and one for America 250, says a lot about what’s coming the next 12 months. >>>UFC Match At The White House B.O. Soars Behind 'Avatar' Lift - Largely everything overperformed in relation to Friday's standings; sources in distribution say whatever we lost in the Christmas holiday stretch in the front-end, we’d make it up on the back-end this weekend and Avatar: Fire and Ash is coming in at $40M for weekend 3. >>>$300M-Plus Domestic Top 10 AI Stories For 2025 - Technology spurred billions in corporate spending, pushed the stock market to record levels and prompted rampant speculation about a bubble. For Hollywood in particular, the year’s events prompted the biggest reckoning yet with AI. >>>Tilly Norwood Ascends THE DEADLINE INTERVIEW ‘The Singers’ Filmmaker Sam Davis On Making A “Sneaky Crowd-Pleaser” That Landed The Oscars Shortlist Sometimes inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places. In the case of the Oscar-nominated, multi-hyphenate filmmaker Sam Davis, motivation came from an old Russian short story and the social media juggernauts Instagram and TikTok. Davis’s short film, The Singers, based on the Ivan Turgenev story of the same name, follows a varied group of down-on-their-luck men who find themselves making a connection with one another through an impromptu singing competition. Here, Davis talks to Deadline about the vulnerability of men and the fun, creative challenge of turning talented buskers into lowkey film stars.>>>Q&A      QUOTABLE   "Donald Jennifer Trump" - Jimmy Kimmel, sarcastically acknowledging the president as he accepted his Critics Choice Award MORE NEWS 📺 Comcast has officially completed its separation from the new Versant Media, whose assets include most of NBCUniversal's former cable TV portfolio, with Versant shares now trading on the Nasdaq. 🍿 Amazon is returning to New York’s Beacon Theatre for its annual upfront presentation to advertisers, slating the event for Monday, May 11. First night of a series of major presentations. 🎮 After the runaway success of The Last of Us and A Minecraft Movie, studios have been aggressive with video game IP. A new report from UK research firm Ampere Analysis looks at the next wave of potential crossover franchises, including Baldur’s Gate III, Black Myth: Wu Kong, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Sons of the Forest. 🤖 At CES this year, organizers at the Consumer Technology Association have boosted the show’s entertainment factor. The tech confab, which officially kicks off Tuesday, is inaugurating a partnership with the Cannes Marché du Film and will see a notable presence for Netflix alongside recent regulars like Disney, Amazon, NBCUniversal and Fox Corp. 🏈 “They’re brilliant scripts. They’re Shakespearean. It’s about football, but, oh, my lord, the plots are so profound, and I’m having the time of my life," said William H. Macy about Dan Fogelman's upcoming NFL drama, revealing its title and setting.  BY THE NUMBERS   $1.08B - Global B.O. 'Avatar: Fire and Ash,' making it the forth James Cameron film to pass the milestone OBITUARIES 🕯️ Dean Williams, a prolific still and set photographer for over 160 productions including Legally Blonde 2, Batman Returns and Poltergeist III, has died, the Central Illinois Film Commission, which he helped launch in 2005, announced on Facebook. 🕯️ Bret Hanna-Shuford, a Broadway actor known his performances in Wicked and The Little Mermaid, has died. He was 46. 🕯️  2025 Media Deaths Photo Gallery ON THE RADAR Mon - Annie Awards nominations Tues - CES begins in Las Vegas Wed - Actor & Art Directors Guild Awards nominations Thu - ASC & NAACP Awards nominations Sun - The Golden Globes PHOTO OF THE DAY A Love 'Supreme' - “Thank you to my partner for three years. I love you. I couldn’t do this without you,” Timothée Chalamet said, looking at girlfriend Kylie Jenner in the audience as he accepted his Critics Choice Award for Marty Supreme. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” This email was sent to punjabsvera@gmail.com by Deadline. Please add email@email.deadline.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the Preferences Center to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 11355 W Olympic Blvd Los Angeles, CA, 90064 View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Your Privacy Rights | Ad Choices | Terms of Use | Unsubscribe