The Nomination Tally by Studio: How Shall We Count Thee?

Whatever happened to the good old days when a mogul could rub a competitor’s nose in a bushel of Oscar nominations?

These days, Academy Award nominations are often a shared experience, which makes it all the more difficult to assign bragging rights. Add up the nominations studios are claiming and it no doubt exceeds the number of total nominations that exist.

This year, the top two contenders for best picture are joint projects. “Shakespeare in Love” is a 50-50 split between Walt Disney Co.’s Miramax Films unit and Universal Pictures. “Saving Private Ryan” was a Paramount project, but added DreamWorks SKG as a partner when director Steven Spielberg, a DreamWorks principal, came aboard.

Fear of flops is causing more studios to finance films as joint projects or, as in the case of “Saving Private Ryan,” the deals are dictated by relationships. Last year, Oscar winner “Titanic” was largely bankrolled and developed by 20th Century Fox. But Paramount Pictures got much of the glory after it invested in the film and got to handle domestic distribution.

“Studios like to share in the risk, because it’s less of a cash outlay. It’s less cash on their balance sheet,” said Mark Gordon, a producer on “Saving Private Ryan.” He and partner Gary Levinsohn through their Mutual Film Co. had something to do with 15 Oscar nominations, given that they also helped finance “Primary Colors” and “A Simple Plan.”

This year, the studio tally is more complicated than ever. By all counts, Miramax deserves bragging rights with 23. Then again, it depends on how you count it.

Consider Seagram Co.’s Universal Pictures. Technically, it can claim as many as 32. As one Universal executive put it, “There are 32 films we get paychecks from.”

Much of that total would come from “Shakespeare in Love,” which with 13 received the most nominations of any film.

But Universal, which suffered a terrible year at the box office, isn’t likely to brag, in part because executives there acknowledge that it was Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein who took the project when it was languishing at Universal and made it into a hit.

“Although we are very proud of our involvement in ‘Shakespeare,’ Harvey Weinstein deserves the credit for making the movie the brilliant film that it is,” Universal President Ron Meyer said.

Seagram’s tally also is boosted by October Films, which it controls and contributed three, two from “Hilary and Jackie.” And, at least for now, Seagram owns Gramercy Pictures, which had seven nominations, including best picture for “Elizabeth.”

Seagram has been trying to sell Gramercy as part of the remaining assets of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, which it acquired when it acquired PolyGram for its music assets in December. So far, no bites.

Here are some of the winners and losers this year:

Winners

Miramax and the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein. The brothers, an annual presence at the Oscars, should be required to buy a personal seat license at the new auditorium the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plans to build in Hollywood.

The studio also scored a best picture nomination with “Life Is Beautiful,” which also got a nomination for best foreign language picture.

DreamWorks SKG, with emphasis on the S and the K. The studio released its first live-action film a little more than a year ago, and already has the film to beat for best picture thanks to directors principal Steven Spielberg (the S) and his “Saving Private Ryan.”

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s baby, “The Prince of Egypt,” didn’t get a best picture nomination, which some at the studio had hoped for at one point last year, but the animated feature did get nominations for best song and best original score. In the best song category, that’s one more nomination than Walt Disney Co.’s big animated film, “Mulan,” got.

Added bonus: It took Disney, which Katzenberg left in a bitter, litigious falling-out, 35 years to get a best picture nomination with “Mary Poppins” in 1964. DreamWorks did it in its second year of releasing live-action films. Then again, Walt didn’t have a Spielberg.

Orphan studios. You can get a pretty good seat at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for the big event if you are willing to write a check for $400 million or so.

For that amount, you probably can get Gramercy and bragging rights to “Elizabeth.” Last week, Saudi prince Muhammad Bin Bandar Abdul Aziz was said to be on the verge of buying PolyGram’s remaining film assets, but that deal turned into a mirage.

“Elizabeth” could have fallen in between the cracks with Seagram buying PolyGram. To its credit, Universal didn’t let that happen and has supported the film’s marketing and Oscar campaigns, which yielded a best picture nomination as well as a best actress nomination for Cate Blanchett. “They’ve been 100% supportive,” Gramercy President Russell Schwartz said. “There’s nothing in ‘Elizabeth’ we’ve been questioned on.”

Added bonus: Maybe the Oscar nominations will bring the prince back.

20th Century Fox. Fox executives were nervous about “The Thin Red Line,” Terrence Malick’s first film in 20 years and one of those films you either love or hate.

The studio was praying for good reviews and award nominations.

Added bonus: It got both.

The agentless. Hollywood’s agencies did about as expected. Of the three biggest, Creative Artists Agency (clients such as Spielberg and “Private Ryan” star Tom Hanks), ICM (acting nominees Nick Nolte, Ian McKellen, Emily Watson and Brenda Blethyn) and William Morris (with such clients as Billy Bob Thornton, Blanchett, Robert Duvall and Judi Dench) get some boasting rights.

Added bonus: Michael Ovitz’s new management company, Artists Management Group, doesn’t have any nominees . . . at least this year.

Losers

Disney Animation. Usually one of the surest bets anyone can make is that the big summer animated movie that Disney releases each year gets a nomination for best song. But “Mulan” came up short, with only a best original musical or comedy score nomination. Even more amazing is that Disney did get an original song nomination--from the summer action blockbuster “Armageddon.”

Consolation: “Mulan” will make huge profits.

Sony. Sound nominations for “The Mask of Zorro,” but shut out on “Stepmom” despite predictions that Susan Sarandon, and maybe Julia Roberts, would get nominations.

Consolation: Sony’s Columbia Pictures just signed a deal with more than 30 A-list writers to give them a share of the profits. Maybe it can add an “Oscar bonus” percentage point to the deal.

Warner Bros. The studio had one nomination, for the original song “The Prayer” from the animated bomb “Quest for Camelot.”

Consolation: Song co-writer Carole Bayer Sager, a previous Oscar winner, is the wife of studio co-chief Bob Daly.

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For more on the Oscars, including Academy Awards history, a trivia quiz and additional photos of the nominees, go to The Times’ Web site: https://www.calendarlive.com/oscars