National Board of Review winners: Top Gun Maverick is Best Picture

“Top Gun: Maverick” has been named Best Picture by the National Board of Review, the organization announced Thursday.

Among the big acting winners, Colin Farrell took home the Best Actor award for ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ after winning the New York Film Critics Circle earlier this month. Two NBR winners over the past 12 years have translated into Oscar winners – Casey Affleck for ‘Manchester by the Sea’ (2016) and Will Smith for ‘King Richard’ (2021). For winners becoming eventual nominees, only three men were ultimately snubbed by the Academy – Oscar Isaac for “A Most Violent Year” (2014), Tom Hanks for “The Post” (2017) and Adam Sandler for “Uncut Gems” (2019).

Michelle Yeoh gets a huge boost for her day after being announced as Madame Morrible in upcoming ‘Wicked’ films and featured on Variety Cast on cast episode today. Now she can add the NBR Best Actress winner to her golden day for her turn as Laundromat owner Evelyn in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Her awards campaign can look to Brie Larson in “Room” (2015) and Renée Zellweger in “Judy” (2019) as the two past recipients who won the statuette. For the nominees, four have missed an Oscar mention in the past twelve years – Lesley Manville for ‘Another Year’ (2010), Tilda Swinton for ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ (2011), Emma Thompson for ‘Saving Mr. Banks” (2013) and last year’s Rachel Zegler for “West Side Story.”

Supporting races went to Farrell’s co-star Brendan Gleeson for ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, while musician-turned-actress Janelle Monáe took home her first major award for ‘Knives Out’ sequel, ‘Glass Onions”. The crossover between NBR and the Oscars in the acting races is sporadic with two or three nods to the Oscars at the end of the season.

Best Director for “The Fabelmans”, Steven Spielberg picked up his second career victory with NBR after “Empire of the Sun” (1987). It would likely take an act of God for the two-time Oscar winner to miss another Academy nod in January. However, it should be noted that only six of the last 12 (50%) of NBR winners have been nominated for an Oscar. Also note that none of them won the Oscar. The last NBR winner to translate into an Oscar winner was Martin Scorsese for “The Departed” (2006).

Some of the more notable omissions from the wins and top 10 mentions included the two musician-centric films — Todd Field’s “Tár” starring Cate Blanchett and Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” starring Austin Butler. There was also no love for Marvel Studios’ seminal films, including Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” nor for writers and Hollywood legends such as Darren Aronofsky (“The Whale”), Sam Mendes (“Empire of Light”). and Ron Howard (“Thirteen Lives”).

For the past 30 years, the Best Picture winner has received a Best Picture Oscar nomination all but once every ten years – 2014’s ‘A Most Violent Year’, 2000’s ‘Quills’ and ‘Gods and Monsters’. from 1998. In the 1980s, there were technically two duds with 1987’s “Empire of the Sun” and 1983’s “Betrayal”, which tied with “Terms of Endearment”.

NBR’s most recent top film picks were Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book,” and George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Last year, Spike Lee’s ‘Da 5 Bloods’ won top prize but could only muster one Oscar nominee for original score (Terence Blanchard), so the judging panel has still not determined whether this one will represent the 2020s.

See the full list of winners below.

Best film: “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures)

Best actor: Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Images)

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything everywhere at the same time” (A24)

Best Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Images)

Best Supporting Actress: Janelle Monáe, “Glass Onion: A Mystery at Daggers Drawn” (Netflix)

Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Images)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell, “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)

Revolutionary performance: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till” (Orion/United Artists Releasing)

Revolutionary performance: Gabriel LaBelle, “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures)

Best Director’s First Film: Charlotte Wells, “After Sun” (A24)

Best Animated Film: “Marcel the shell with shoes” (A24)

Best International Film: “Close” from Belgium (A24)

Best Documentary: “Sr.” (Netflix)

Best Together: “Women Who Talk” (MGM/United Artists Release)

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

NBR Freedom of Speech Awards: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (Neon) and “Argentina, 1985” (Amazon Studios)

Top Movies (in alphabetical order):

Top 5 international films (in alphabetical order):

Top 5 documentaries (in alphabetical order):

Top 10 independent films (in alphabetical order):

To see the current rankings for each individual category, visit Variety Oscar Center. The first set of SAG Awards predictions for the movie was also revealed.