How did Everything Everywhere All At Once get the best Oscar award?

Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was released on 10 screens nationwide less than a year ago, made over $500,000 in its first weekend.

It grew from there and has now made more over $100 million globally, becoming the first movie produced independently by A24 to do so.

Both the film's box office success and critical acclaim received enough praise to merit their own Wikipedia page.

Everything Everywhere received the most Oscar nominations this year with 11 in January, including Best Picture, Best Director (the Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actress (Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis), and Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan).

According to Jeff Yang, co-author of Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Today, nobody anticipated that the movie would go this far. Perhaps the Daniels were the least surprised. While most Oscar contenders from large film companies have their world premieres at famous fall film festivals, this was an independent spring release.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Tár premiered in Venice, while other Best Picture nominees, such as All Quiet on the Western Front and The Fabelmans, debuted at the Toronto Film Festival. Women Talking and Triangle of Sorrow had their film debuts at Telluride and Cannes, respectively.

“There were so many good stories about the film, but they’re all the kind of stories that point to indie success and critical darling,” Yang tells TIME. “They don’t point to awards blockbuster. They definitely don’t point to a clean sweep—every major mark of inevitability that is possible coming up Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Several heartwarming rumors circulated about the film, including Ke Huy Quan's return to performing after a nearly twenty-year absence. After that, Daniels received a number of awards from Hollywood between the middle of February and the beginning of March, including one for feature directing from the Directors Guild of America (DGA).

The film was given the highest accolade by the Producers Guild (PGA). It was showered with honors from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Everything Everywhere won the WGA award for Best Original Screenplay. In addition, Yeoh and Quan won the January Golden Globes. The film quickly established itself as a clear favorite to win Best Picture.

But, as Yang qualifies, “I have to sometimes be reminded that all of the accolades coming from these guilds—and even the Academy Awards—if we actually put them into context, the only reason why they are so meaningful is because we haven’t had them in the past. But they really are this weird sense of us clutching at the hem of the Hollywood establishment.”

The Oscars report companion to the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's upcoming Inclusion List was released in early March. According to the report, 20 nominations—the largest number and percentage yet—or 9% of all Asian nominees were named in 2023. These nominees were connected to Everything Everywhere All at Once in more than half of the cases.

Stacy L. Smith, the founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, says, "We can celebrate Everything Everywhere All At Once, but the worry is: How is it a token demonstration, rather than looking at a governing body that's actually committed to inclusion over time? In the 95-year existence, there have been 35 years without an Asian nominee. 35 years."