After disrupting the TV industry and earning Emmy and Golden Globe wins along the way for its original programming, Netflix has now secured its first Academy Awards nomination with The Square. The 2014 Oscar nominees were announced Thursday morning.

The Square, which premieres on Netflix on Friday and details the revolution in Egypt from the 2011 overthrow of military leader Hosni Mubarak through the ousting of Mohammed Morsi in 2013, is vying for the Best Feature Documentary Oscar against The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars and 20 Feet from Stardom.

This is the second year an online-only entity has made a major splash at the Academy Awards. Last year, a Kickstarter-funded film, Inocente, won the award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). In total, six Kickstarter-backed films have been nominated over past years.

Netflix acquired The Square in November after the film found critical success on the film festival circuit. It was one of two documentary acquisitions by Netflix; the other, The Short Game, was about young golfers on their way to the World Championships of Junior Golf. The acquisitions were viewed as bold statements to enter the Academy Awards race.

Produced and directed by Jehan Noujaim, The Square had received considerable critical acclaim before Netflix purchased the streaming rights to the film. It won the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award for a Documentary and the Audience Award for World Cinema in the documentary category at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

The nomination adds to the accolades that Netflix has slowly built up as it seeks to branch out from its roots of distributing outside content.

Just last week, Netflix won its first Golden Globe, as Robin Wright of House of Cards earned Best Actress in a TV Drama, beating Julianna Marguiles (The Good Wife), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black) and Kerry Washington (Scandal). House of Cards was also nominated for Best Drama, Best Actor (Kevin Spacey) and Best Supporting Actor (Corey Stoll).

Netflix's Orange Is the New Black also earned one Golden Globe nod for Best Actress in Drama (Taylor Schilling), and Arrested Development got one nod for Best Actor in a Comedy (Jason Bateman).

In September, Netflix's original political thriller House of Cards became the first web-only show to win an award at any Primetime Emmys after winning Outstanding Directing for a Drama. Netflix was in the running in 14 Emmy categories for House of Cards, Arrested Development and supernatural thriller Hemlock Grove.

2013 Film Superlatives

Image: Netflix