John Wick: Chapter 4 was recently released in theaters to critical praise and box office success and while these two things don’t usually spell Oscar, Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water getting nominated for Best Picture this past year definitely helped realize anything is possible in terms of the chances of a blockbuster being acquainted with awards praise. 

Movies released this early usually mean nothing to the Academy, but the past few years have dictated that not to be the case, especially last year with Everything Everywhere All at Once being released in April and still dominating and even gaining momentum come Oscar season. 

This all being said, John Wick: Chapter 4 has as much chance of dominating at the Oscars as a nameless henchman has at winning a fight against the titular character, pretty close to zero. However, there is still a chance that it can possibly wrestle up some technical nominations, much like The Batman did last year being released early, being a blockbuster, but still getting a few nominations. 

It’s clear to state that most likely this film will not be nominated for any Oscars, but it will be quite deserving of several of them and does have some odds of getting a few nominations for the technicals. Best Production Design is the first award that this movie deserves especially in the opening act that takes place in Osaka, which has a beautiful look from start to finish, which is why it should also receive a nomination for Best Cinematography. However, these two awards are usually synonymous with Best Picture frontrunners which John Wick: Chapter 4 definitely will not be, and yet once in a while a wild film that looks beautiful can jump into the list of five nominations for these awards. 

The film has a chance of getting a nomination for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound as action movies often find a home in these two categories and while the visual effects are not out right obvious in the film, they easily blend with reality where you can hardly recognize them and that has become popular with the Academy and therefore there is a chance this shows up on the short list, at the very least. 

Another awards category that often receives nominations for Best Picture is Best Editing and so John Wick: Chapter 4 will probably not get a nomination in this category, even though more action movies should be considered for this category and after Top Gun: Maverick received a nomination for this award (even though it also got a nomination for Best Picture) there is a solid chance that more action movies with a high pace could be considered for this award. 

I cannot stress enough that this next nomination will definitely not happen and has exactly zero percent chance of occurring but it would still be an interesting narrative. While action movie stars have virtually never been nominated for performance Oscars, it would be interesting to see Donnie Yen get a career nomination for his work in John Wick: Chapter 4 in the category of Best Supporting Actor as he really does put himself through the physical gauntlet. There is no way this will happen at all, but it is a narrative that is not entirely out of bounds. 

Every few years, Best Stunt Coordination is discussed as a category that should exist, and rightfully so. If it existed this year then John Wick: Chapter 4 would easily be both the nomination and the probable winner of that Oscar this year. However, if this category was going to be added, it will probably not be added this year as 2023 is already under way, but if this category was instituted next year because of this film, it would almost unofficially win for shifting the culture of the Oscars. Much like when The Dark Knight’s snub caused there to be ten Best Picture nominations from five. 

The bottom line is that John Wick: Chapter 4 is an insanely successful and well made action flick which therefore has the chance to receive a few technical nominations, but they are all long shots at this point. 

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