‘Thelma’, ‘Hit Man’ First In Academy Screening Room

And so it begins.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has signaled the beginning of the race for the 97th annual Academy Awards, which will take place on Sunday, March 2, 2025.

The Academy Screening Room made its first titles available Friday to membership, with Thelma from Magnolia Pictures; Shirley, Hit Man and the animated Ultraman: Rising all from Netflix; plus Wildcat released by Oscilloscope Laboratories on the platform. That list is sure to grow much bigger as the nascent season moves along. The cost, as of last season, is $20,000 for studio movies, and $8,000 for those from the indie sector.

Thelma is a comedy starring 94-year-old June Squibb as a grandmother who becomes victimized by an internet money scam preying on the elderly and decides to take matters into her own hands. Magnolia hopes to grab Oscar voters’ attention for Squibb’s performance, and also in the Golden Globes Comedy/Musical category as well as with critics groups.

Netflix is aiming attention for breakout Glen Powell’s versatile turn donning several disguises in the Richard Linklater comedy Hit Man, a movie based on real events. It premiered last September at the Venice Film Festival where the streamer picked it up.

Conversely, Netflix has the suddenly very timely Shirley starring Oscar winner Regina King as Shirley Chisholm, who in 1972 became the first Black woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Oscar winner John Ridley wrote and directed the biopic centered on that historic political run. Just yesterday he appeared on MSNBC’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell to talk about its significance and relevance in light of the recent rise of Kamala Harris who became the first Black woman to receive the Democratic Presidential nomination. That alone could likely ignite a campaign for Shirley, which began streaming on Netflix back in March.

Wildcat premiered at Telluride last year and earned praise for director/co-writer Ethan Hawke and his daughter Maya, the latter starring as American novelist Flannery O’Connor. Ultraman: Rising is among the list of several Netflix animated features aiming for attention from the Academy, which honored the streamer’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio in 2022 with an Oscar in the Animated Feature category.

In a note to members, the Academy said the screening room, its members-only streaming platform, offers screening opportunities throughout the season, in addition to in-person opps. It is available on several platforms for streaming including Apple TV, Roku and Android TV, online through the member site, and the mobile member app with AirPlay and Chromecast support. Beginning next week it will also be available for the first time on Amazon Fire TV. Additional content available includes Academy Museum programming; the Academy Member Unconscious Bias Session; and Academy-In-Brief, a series for members highlighting Academy initiatives, the awards processes and more.

The Academy promises members it will keep adding films as soon as distributors make them available.

The season will continue to roll into place in just three weeks, when the fall festivals begin at Venice and Telluride, followed closely by Toronto.

Fasten your seatbelts.