Inside the Release Strategy for Searchlight’s ‘Nomadland’: Hulu, IMAX, and Oscars

In the uncharted territory that is the 2021 Best Picture Oscar race, Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” may be the current front runner.

The certainty is its release plan: Following last month’s one-week virtual cinema run for critic-group awards, Searchlight Films will open the Frances McDormand drama January 29 at a handful of IMAX locations nationwide, expand to more IMAX screens over the next two weeks, then add other theaters February 19 with concurrent streaming on Hulu.In its previous incarnation as Fox Searchlight, the distributor won three of the last seven Best Picture awards.

Those wins, and strong contenders like “The Favourite” and “3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” shared strategic theatrical release patterns aimed at maximum attention and box office success.

This year, circumstances demand that Searchlight change course — and find a way to be inventive that lets the film stand out.We don’t know if it’s needed only this year,

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