Apple TV+ made history on Sunday by becoming the first streaming service to win an Academy Award for best picture for "CODA," a moving drama about a deaf girl pursuing her passion for music.
"CODA" competed head-to-head with Netflix's critically acclaimed western, "The Power of the Dog," which received a dozen nominations. Jane Campion, the film's director, won an Academy Award.
The best picture Oscar demonstrates how far the industry has come since 2017, when Cannes barred films that had not been released on the big screen from qualifying for the festival's most prestigious award, the Palme d'Or. It was a calculated jab at streaming providers such as Netflix.
As a result of the global pandemic that compelled theaters to close in 2020, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences temporarily changed the criteria that a film screen for seven days in theaters to qualify for an Oscar.
That marked a watershed moment for films that make their home premieres via streaming services.
The best picture Oscar is also a landmark moment for Apple TV+, which launched in November 2019 with just a handful of original series and no archive of films or television episodes.
"Winning the coveted best picture award with CODA would spur additional A+ talent to Apple first (or in the top bracket)" and increase subscriptions, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives noted before to the awards.
Apple TV+ made a splash in September 2021 when its fish-out-of-water comedy "Ted Lasso," about an American football coach who accepts a position with an English soccer club, won the Emmy Award for outstanding comedy series.
"CODA" stars Emilia Jones as Ruby, a Massachusetts adolescent who is divided between her creative dreams and her attachment to her parents (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin) and elder brother (Daniel Durant).
Two further prizes were presented Sunday: best adapted script for Heder and best supporting actor for Kotsur, who already received similar awards at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
The best picture award was accepted by "CODA" producers Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger and Philippe Rousselet.
The show was broadcast live on ABC from Hollywood's Dolby Theatre. A-listers walked the red carpet and attended parties without masks, but they were still needed to test negative prior to attending the main event.
The concert included several buzzworthy moments, many of which addressed current events in the United States and throughout the world.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences observed a minute of silence in honor of the Ukrainian people. To demonstrate their support, several actors wore Ukrainian colors or buttons.
