A record number of sequels were nominated at this year's Oscars

(Image credit: Paramount)

Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick have made history at this year's Oscars. Regardless of the outcome of the awards ceremony, this is the first time more than one sequel has been nominated for Best Picture.

Of course, this isn't the first time a sequel has been nominated for Best Picture – The Godfather Part 2, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and Mad Max: Fury Road are just a few examples. The former two movies are the only sequels that have ever won the gong, however.

Elsewhere, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery were also recognized in major categories – Angela Bassett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first actor to receive an Academy Award nod for a Marvel movie, and Glass Onion received a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay.

2023 is also a big year for first-time nominees. Cate Blanchett is the only previous Oscar winner to be nominated in the acting categories this year, and 16 of the 20 acting nominees are first-timers: Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Paul Mescal, Bill Nighy, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan, Ke Huy Quan, Ana de Armas, Andrea Riseborough, Michelle Yeoh, Hong Chau, Kerry Condon, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Stephanie Hsu are all first-time Oscar nominees.

The Oscars 2023 airs on Sunday, March 12 on ABC in the US, while broadcast details for the UK are yet to be confirmed. If you're already up to date on all the major Oscar-nominated movies, fill out your watch list with our picks of the other best movies of 2022.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.