An Oscar voter told us he refuses to pick Netflix movies for best picture and it shows one potential reason the streamer got 24 noms and only 2 wins

Netflix

"Marriage Story."

• Netflix had 24 nominations at this year's Oscars, but only came away with two wins.
• It was also the second-straight year the streaming giant was nominated in the best-picture category but lost.
• Business Insider spoke to several sources within the movie industry as well as Academy voters to figure out why Netflix hasn't won the big prize.
• Some believe it's because a group of Academy voters will only vote for non-streaming titles.
• We spoke to one Academy voter who confirmed he wouldn't vote for a streaming title for best picture out of principle.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Netflix navigated this past awards season to score 24 Oscar nominations, the most of any studio. But when the 92nd Academy Awards came to a close Sunday, the streaming giant had only collected two statues during the evening.

And neither were for best picture.

That's not a big return for a company that the Los Angeles Times reported likely spent $70 million or more on its award campaigns.

This year's Oscars marks the second consecutive year a Netflix title was nominated for best picture, only to lose out.

Last year, its chances rested on Alfonso Cuarón's semi-autobiographical, black-and-white movie "Roma," which was primarily in Spanish. The result was three wins for the movie (best director, best cinematography, and best foreign-language film), but no best picture. That went to Universal's "Green Book."

This year, Netflix had Martin Scorsese's epic, "The Irishman," and Noah Baumbach's drama, "Marriage Story" nominated. The best-picture win went to Neon's "Parasite" (ironically, a foreign-language movie). Netflix settled for a best supporting actress win for Laura Dern ("Marriage Story") and "American Factory" for best documentary feature.

So it's clear Netflix is producing (or acquiring) work that is strong enough to get Oscars attention. As one industry veteran Business Insider spoke to put it, "They have now become an artistic force to reckon with." But Netflix hasn't been able to score a best-picture win.

What is Netflix not doing?

It's certainly not a lack of working the circuit. Under the watchful eye of Lisa Taback, Netflix this year got 10 nominations for "The Irishman" and six for "Marriage Story." Taback is an awards season guru who, back in the Harvey Weinstein-led Miramax days (and later The Weinstein Company), played a huge role in getting best-picture wins for "The English Patient," "Shakespeare in Love," "Chicago," "The King's Speech," and "The Artist." She went on to do the campaign for best-picture winner "Moonlight."

Netflix

"The Irishman."

And not reporting the box office for its movies has become an advantage. Several industry insiders that talked to Business Insider said if "The Irishman," "Marriage Story," or another Netflix Oscar-nominated title, "The Two Popes," opened traditionally with reported box office and any one of those were busts at the turnstile, those titles would have lost some Oscar buzz. But Netflix was able to feed off hype while not having to deal with a slew of box-office bomb stories. (To be considered for the Academy Awards, a movie is required to have a theatrical release in at least New York and Los Angeles for a designated amount of time. But studios are not required to report box-office figures.)

So it could easily be that Netflix is doing everything right, it's just really hard to win a best-picture Oscar. Paramount hasn't won a best picture since 2007 with "No Country for Old Men." And that was a team-up with Miramax through its defunct Paramount Vantage indie division.

But another factor could be that some Academy voters refuse to vote for streaming titles in the best-picture category.

"I think there's certainly a faction inside the Academy that feel the Oscars are set up for theatrical releases," one voter told Business Insider.

When the voter was asked if they set their criteria for voting based on if a title is from a streaming service or not, the person said they do.

"I'm looking at the future of the motion picture business," the voter said. "I'm not look at what it means for me but what does it means for the next generation. People want to make movies for audiences. What's the difference between 'Parasite' winning this year and 'Roma' not winning last year? One was released in theaters in a traditional way and one was not."

With more studios launching streaming services, the collective thought in Hollywood is that the theatrical window will eventually shorten. And with all that, the awards season landscape could also change.

If suddenly there is a more level playing field, it will be fascinating to watch if Netflix will thrive against the studios or end up in their wake.

Netflix declined to comment for this story.

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

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