Spider-Man: No Way Home has received widespread critical acclaim from fans and critics alike, and in recent weeks, the threequel has been generating a lot of Oscar buzz. Given the response to the movie, there's really no reason to believe it doesn't deserve a "Best Picture" nod, though the nature of the Academy arguably makes that unlikely.
Stranger things have happened, of course, and Black Panther earned that accolade even if it didn't ultimately win (despite being vastly better than Green Book).
Doing the rounds to promote Uncharted, Tom Holland was asked by Kevin McCarthy for his thoughts on Spider-Man: No Way Home's Oscar chances. "You know, we're all incredibly proud of the film. It would obviously be a huge honour if it was nominated for an Oscar, but I think that's not how we like to validate ourselves," the actor explained. "We like to validate ourselves with the love we receive from the general public and, so far, that has been through the roof. So, for me, with this film and this character, I've already achieved everything I would like to."
Holland would go on to say that the fan response to the movie has moved him in ways he never anticipated. "You see these fan reactions of people seeing Andrew come through that portal and I've never seen anything like that in a theater before. I've never seen that kind of audience reaction and to be a part of that was so emotional. I can't watch those videos without getting really, really emotional. At the premiere, I was in floods of tears at the end of that movie."
"It was a combination how proud I am of the movie, how great the movie was, how emotional I was about the end of this chapter and what we'd all achieved," he added. "Whether it is an Oscar movie or not, it has no bearing on me. It would be amazing if it is, but if it's not, I'm so proud of what Jon Watts has achieved."
If we're being real here for a moment, Holland probably realises that Spider-Man: No Way Home only has a very slim chance of breaking into that "Best Picture" category, so tempering expectations is no doubt the best way to go. It would be a real shame if the movie is overlooked, but the actor makes a lot of valid points about how there are more important ways to be recognised.
With ratings for the Academy Awards continuing to plummet, nominating the Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios threequel would be a smart way to drive up interest in the show. A win, meanwhile, would prove that the Oscars can acknowledge more than mostly unseen, niche movies.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters.