| February 27, 2026 
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Hi, movie fans! The academy is in the midst of voting for the Oscars, and the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild hand out their prizes this weekend. That’s all to say, this is a crucial week in awards season. When it comes to best picture, most pundits think the race is between “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners.” Keep your eye on the Producers Guild: Since 2009, when it expanded its nominations lineup, only three winners there have failed to take the academy’s top prize as well. The Actors, the new name of the SAGs, are a less reliable indicator, even though performers make up a huge voting bloc in the academy. Still, it’s easy to see a scenario in which the producers go for “One Battle” and the actors for “Sinners.” If that happens, I’ll let the pundits fight it out. Speaking of pundits, our in-house expert, Kyle Buchanan, took a detour this week to write about something he’s become well-known for: photos of the sad meals at awards ceremonies. He has some theories on why his social media posts on the topic go viral, writing, “Maybe people assume that the A-listers at these shows are eating caviar and drinking liquid gold, so any evidence to the contrary feels unexpectedly compelling.” Elsewhere in Hollywood, “Scream 7” is opening this weekend, with Neve Campbell starring again after sitting out the last episode over a salary dispute. That wasn’t the biggest controversy to cloud the franchise. There was also the firing of Melissa Barrera over her social media posts supporting the Palestinian cause after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel. My colleague Esther Zuckerman explains how that affected what you’ll see onscreen this weekend. Speaking of which, how is the movie? Our chief critic, Manohla Dargis, writes that “the results are, by turns, amusing and lightly scary, though never truly surprising.” If you go see “Scream 7” or watch something else, enjoy the movies! |
