The official kickoff to 2023 Oscar season began just over six months ago with the fall festival circuit — Telluride, Venice, Toronto. But it actually got underway when Everything Everywhere All at Once debuted at SXSW in March 2022, which is not a popular time of year for potential Best Picture nominee releases, but resulted in the movie being able to run a marathon instead of a sprint to the Oscars finish line. It was followed in summer by the debuts of Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis, two more movies whose popularity — and technical and artistic achievements, of course — helped catapult them into the race. Then came Aftersun, Avatar: The Way of Water, All Quiet on the Western Front, Babylon, The Banshees of Inisherin, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Fabelmans, Living, Tár, Triangle of Sadness, The Whale, Women Talking, and more contenders.