We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Elvis

Baz Luhrmann has only made six films to date. His first film, Strictly Ballroom, is the only film not to earn a single Oscar nomination even though it did win three BAFTA awards out of eight nominations, which is pretty exceptional, especially since it wasn’t a Best Picture nominee with them. His subsequent four films all earned varying degrees of Oscar nominations. His second film was the reimagining of Romeo + Juliet, which only managed a single nomination for Production Design with his wife Catherine Martin one of the two nominees in the category. His follow up, Moulin Rouge!, is his biggest success to date. That film pulled in an outstanding eight nominations, including one for Best Picture. It won two for Production Design and Costume Design with his wife once again the recipient of a nomination, two in fact, for both of the categories the film won in.

His fourth film was a bit of a dud, though Australia was well liked enough to pick up 6 competitive nominations and 3 awards from the Australian Academy. With the Americans, it was a single nomination for Costume Design, once again with Martin the beneficiary. You’ll never guess who again scored nominations for his fifth film, The Great Gatsby. You guessed it, Martin. The Great Gatsby was cited twice for Production Design and Costume Design, both including Martin and both being honored by the Academy. That’s four Oscars and six nominations for Martin and one for Luhrmann himself in Best Picture for Moulin Rouge! for which he wasn’t nominated in directing.

How does that help or hurt Elvis? Firstly, it seems like Martin is sure to be nominated once or twice for the film in Production Design and Costume Design. Wins are unlikely. As for the film itself beyond those categories? The issue is of course critics who gave them film positive, but not exceptional reviews. Audiences, however, seemed to love it. The film opened to a solid $30 million, an A- from Cinema Score polling opening weekend audiences, a 7.9 from IMDb and MetaCritic readers and a impressive 94% from Rotten Tomatoes readers. That popularity could bolster it with the Academy and a number of other categories could be in play. Best Directing is unlikely. That branch is a bit stuffy. Best Picture is a weaker prospect, but not out of the question. Best Actor for Austin Butler also a possibility. Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, and Cinematography are possible as well. Production Design seems the iffiest of Martin’s chances with Costume Design seems like a lock for a nomination at this point. Sound is also a strong possibility with Makeup & Hairstyling rounding out the potential category placements.