Universal Pictures dominates the Academy Awards with “Oppenheimer’

By Dawn Chmielewski

Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures dominated Sunday’s Academy Awards, propelled by the historical drama “Oppenheimer,” which won seven Oscars, including best picture.

The film about the father of the atomic bomb claimed wins in several major categories, including the best director Oscar for Christopher Nolan, lead actor for Cillian Murphy and supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.

“The Holdovers,” a film from Universal’s Focus Features about a strict teacher in a New England boarding school who is forced to supervise students unable to return home for Christmas, won for best supporting actress, Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

Disney’s Searchlight division scored five Oscars. Four of them went to “Poor Things,” the reimagining of the Frankenstein story, which earned a best actress honor for Emma Stone. Searchlight also received an Oscar for documentary short film, “The Last Repair Shop.”

Netflix received a single award, for director Wes Anderson’s 39-minute live action short, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”  

Apple was shut out of Sunday’s winners. It released best picture nominee “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which depicts the murders of members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma in the 1920s.