Entertainment

Yet another reason the new ‘Popular Film’ Oscar is a terrible idea

todayAugust 11, 2018

Background

So far, people have been focusing on the perverse incentives the award creates for Academy voters. But even more pernicious could be the incentives it creates for filmmakers and studios.

The votes are in, and the Oscar for Worst Idea goes to … the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for its plan to add a new trophy for “outstanding achievement in popular film.” Like the Academy’s 2009 decisionto expand the roster of Best Picture nominees from five to 10—a rule that was tweaked two years later, permitting between five and 10—the move is universally seen as an effort to keep the Oscars “relevant,” especially with younger audiences.

The 2009 decision was generally viewed as a response to the failure of The Dark Knight and Wall-E to garner Best Picture nominations the previous year. This time, it seems a reaction to the broader phenomenon of falling ratings. As my colleague David Sims noted, ratings were way down this year, after dropping the year before as well. The underlying logic is the same as in 2009: When in doubt, get more blockbusters nominated. But the new category could create far more problems than it solves, and not merely the ones that have already been widely discussed.
The irony, of course, is despite these occasional bouts of “are we too artsy?” self-flagellation, the Academy has always loved blockbusters. If one goes by the inflation-adjusted data provided by boxofficemojo.com, the nine top-grossing pictures of all time have all been nominated for Best Picture, and three (Gone With the Wind, The Sound of Music, and Titanic) took home the statuette. Doing well at the box office has always given movies a huge boost in the Best Picture category, whether you’re talking about surprise-success indies (Slumdog MillionaireGet Out) or over-achieving schmaltz-fests (Forrest GumpThe Blind Side). The truly awful Avatar was considered an Oscar frontrunner through most of 2009, based principally on the fact that it probably made more money in its opening hour than most films make during their entire theatrical runs.

Written by: New Generation Radio

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