Los Angeles, California - The 2021 Oscars are at the end of April and 366 films have qualified for a possible nomination in the category of Best Picture.

The Oscar Academy in Beverly Hills, California, announced the list of potential candidates on Thursday.

Among them are the Western News of the World with Tom Hanks (64) and Helena Zengel (12), the drama Mank, and the Danish film Another Round.

Usually the films have to meet several requirements to qualify for nomination: a contender must be over 40 minutes long and have opened in a theater in at least one of six US metropolitan areas before the end of February.

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But this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent movie theater closures, the Academy and its over 9000 members have made concessions. Films that were scheduled for release in cinemas but were moved to streaming services because of the pandemic were also eligible.

Many of the potential nominees, like Judas and the Black Messiah, directed by Shaka King, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom had limited releases in theaters, before moving to streaming services like HBO Max and Netflix.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce a maximum of ten contenders as finalists and the rest of the nominations on March 15, 2021. Last year, 344 films were in the running.