For the first time ever, I am revising an award.

I am adding a second winner because I just saw this movie and had I seen it before, it would have been a shoo-in.

HERE is what was before:

Sometimes a movie does not have an obvious lead actor or actress and, instead, has a group of characters that all serve the story. The group is recognized with this award.

Previous Winners

The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

Previous Winners:  Avengers: Endgame, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Runners-Up: Marvel’s Eternals is a perfect example of the ensemble cast. We meet a whole flock of new characters in Chloé Zhao‘s epic. James Gunn put out another great super hero…well, maybe a super villain… film this year called The Suicide Squad. It was a top notch ensemble too including Margot Robbie, Sylvester Stallone and John Cena, to name a few. West Side Story has a great ensemble for the remake of the 1961 Oscar winner. Fear Street was a three film series released on Netflix for three weeks with a group of actors who played different characters in the different time periods.

Winner: In the Heights

Lin Manuel-Miranda’s stage play made the leap to the big screen in 2021 and the cast was just tremendous. Along with Manuel-Miranda, there was Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, Olga Merediz, Jimmy Smits, Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Dascha Polanco, Ariana Greenblatt, Stephanie Beatriz, Rita Moreno, Marc Anthony, Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Noah Catala.

GOING ALONG WITH IN THE HEIGHTS, THE TIE GOES TO….

Mass

These four actors are so brilliant in this movie that they bring such emotion and such an amazing energy without any clear lead. This is the perfect example of an ensemble as they are special. The four actors are  Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton.