By Steve Pond
TheWrap
“12 Years a Slave” was the top nominee at the 18th annual Satellite Awards, the International Press Academy announced on Monday morning.
Steve McQueen’s harrowing drama won 10 nominations, two more than Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” and David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” to lead a field in which nearly every possible awards contender received a number of nominations.
Other nominations for best motion picture included “All Is Lost,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Captain Phillips,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Philomena,” “Saving Mr. Banks” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
With 10 best-picture nominations and eight nominees in each of the film acting categories, the IPA left few people or films out – though the failure of “Nebraska,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “August: Osage County,” “Her” and “Fruitvale Station” to make the top category was no doubt disappointing to those films.
All except “Fruitvale” received multiple nominations in other categories, while “Fruitvale” director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan were voted Special Achievement Awards.
In the television categories, “Breaking Bad,” “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black” led with four nominations, followed by a group of a dozen series, movies and miniseries with three, including “American Horror Story: Coven,” “Behind the Candelabra,” “Mad Men,” “Masters of Sex,” “Phil Spector” and “Rectify.”
Warner Bros. was the most nominated studio with 18, followed by Sony with 15 and Fox Searchlight with 12; on the TV side, HBO led with 18 nominations, followed by Showtime with 10 and AMC, FX and Netflix with nine.
The International Press Academy, which hands out the Satellite Awards, was founded in 1996 by a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It is made up of entertainment journalists from more than 20 countries around the world, with far more members but significantly less clout or visibility than the HFPA.
Over the 17-year history of the Satellite Awards (formerly called the Golden Satellite Awards), most Oscar Best Picture nominees were also Satellite nominees, though the winners seldom coincided. The winner of the Satellite Award for drama has gone on to be named the Oscars’ Best Picture five times (including four in a row from 2006-2009), while the Satellite comedy winner has been named Best Picture once.
(The Satellite Awards did away with separate drama and comedy/musical categories in 2011 in favor of a single, supersized Best Picture category.)
The Satellite Awards ceremony will be held on March 9, 2014 in Los Angeles.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Why Oscar May Never Give Us 10 Best Picture Nominees Again
Independent Spirit Awards 2014: The Nominees (Photos)
’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Nebraska’ Nominated for Top Indie Spirit Awards
Angelina Jolie, Steve Martin and Angela Lansbury Shine at Academy’s Love Fest (and Campaign Stop)
