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Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:08 pm
by jarnon
AMPAS announced in a tweet (not a good sign):
Change is coming to the #Oscars. Here's what you need to know:

- A new category is being designed around achievement in popular film.
- We've set an earlier airdate for 2020: mark your calendars for February 9.
- We're planning a more globally accessible, three-hour telecast.
Jake Tapper's comment:
I was just saying Hollywood needs to be encouraged more officially to focus more on box office, less on quality
I expect SSS's reaction will be sharper.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:29 pm
by silverscreenselect
jarnon wrote: - A new category is being designed around achievement in popular film.
They already have an entire show devoted to this. It's called the People's Choice Awards.

They need more categories like Best Screen Kiss and Best Villain.

In order to accommodate the three-hour time limit, a number of categories like short subjects, sound, costuming, production design, etc. will be given out during commercial breaks and announced afterwards. And still no Stunt category (something that Mission Impossible would have deservedly won in a cakewalk this year).

Maybe they can get someone dressed up as Spider-Man to present the best popular film award.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 4:16 pm
by CarShark
This just goes back to the yawning chasm between the movies that get nominated for Oscars and the ones people actually watch. I remember the backlash going back to The Dark Knight not even being nominated for Best Picture. Then all of a sudden there are 10 nominees for Best Picture the next year. Just last year Wonder Woman got completely shut out of the Oscars, and now this. This change comes just in time for Black Panther, of course, because they don't want a repeat. The Academy doesn't want to fend off accusations of being both sexist and racist. The #OscarsSoWhite virtually guarantees either Boseman, Nyong'o or Jordan will get an acting nomination.

This is just so transparently cynical, which is why it has already backfired. Now the membership can shuttle the plebeian movies away to the kiddie's table while they vote for high culture cinema about fish love. At least people will care about one award, just not in the way they'd intended.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:12 pm
by Beebs52
Supposedly this is to attract more viewers, right? Which makes the whole exercise more fatuous than it was?

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:46 pm
by flockofseagulls104
Now if they put a stop to the mindless political comments by ignorant actors and actresses, maybe I'd watch a few minutes of it.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:34 pm
by bazodee
CarShark wrote:This just goes back to the yawning chasm between the movies that get nominated for Oscars and the ones people actually watch. I remember the backlash going back to The Dark Knight not even being nominated for Best Picture. Then all of a sudden there are 10 nominees for Best Picture the next year. Just last year Wonder Woman got completely shut out of the Oscars, and now this. This change comes just in time for Black Panther, of course, because they don't want a repeat. The Academy doesn't want to fend off accusations of being both sexist and racist. The #OscarsSoWhite virtually guarantees either Boseman, Nyong'o or Jordan will get an acting nomination.

This is just so transparently cynical, which is why it has already backfired. Now the membership can shuttle the plebeian movies away to the kiddie's table while they vote for high culture cinema about fish love. At least people will care about one award, just not in the way they'd intended.
And the separate but equal Oscar for most popular picture goes to ... Black Panther

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:13 am
by Pastor Fireball
Change is coming to the #Oscars. Here's what you need to know:

- A new category is being designed around achievement in popular film.
I'm on the fence about this change. I commend the Academy for its attempt to be more inclusive to high-quality blockbusters, but there are probably more appropriate award categories in which to do it. "Best Popular Film" sounds really vague and reminds me too much of the "Best Unique and Artistic Picture Academy Award" from the very first ceremony--an award that I call "Best Picture with an Asterisk".

BTW, anybody who claims that the Best Popular Film Academy Award was introduced solely for Black Panther should be reminded that Black Panther was released in February and 99.9% of every film released in February over the past 90 years have received a cumulative total of zero Oscar nominations in the respective following year's ceremony. Academy voters have a very short-term memory and completely shun any movie released before June 1 in any one calendar year. Most of the Oscar bait doesn't get released until at least November.

I've also seen the argument that the inclusion of a Best Popular Film Academy Award would prevent high-quality blockbusters from receiving nods in the Best Picture category. First of all, that hasn't stopped the Academy before. Second, the reason that the Best Animated Feature Academy Award was created in 2001 was because so many great animated films before 2002 were snubbed of a Best Picture nod (such as The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and the first Toy Story). Besides, the inclusion of the Best Animated Feature Academy Award hasn't stopped Up and Toy Story 3 from receiving Best Picture nominations. So the belief that a Best Popular Film Academy Award category would ruin a blockbuster's chances at a Best Picture nomination is total horse hockey.

But I will watch the Oscars, anyway, no matter what categories are in or out. It's an annual tradition of mine that I will never break, and I need more winners to predict incorrectly in my Oscar posts. :wink:
- We've set an earlier airdate for 2020: mark your calendars for February 9.
The Super Bowl and the Grammys ought to be thrilled with that date.
- We're planning a more globally accessible, three-hour telecast.
I approve of this one, mainly because I live on the East Coast and it's a little hard on my body to stay awake past midnight on a Sunday.
flockofseagulls104 wrote:Now if they put a stop to the mindless political comments by ignorant actors and actresses, maybe I'd watch a few minutes of it.
I totally agree that Scott Baio, Stacey Dash, Victoria Jackson, Antonio Sabato Jr., Susan Sarandon, Janine Turner, Jon Voight, and James Woods need to keep their mindless ignorant pieholes permanently closed.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:35 am
by Estonut
Pastor Fireball wrote:... Black Panther was released in February and 99.9% of every film released in February over the past 90 years have received a cumulative total of zero Oscar nominations in the respective following year's ceremony. Academy voters have a very short-term memory and completely shun any movie released before June 1 in any one calendar year. Most of the Oscar bait doesn't get released until at least November.
One only needs to go back 1 year to see that you don't know what you're talking about, as usual.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:33 am
by silverscreenselect
Pastor Fireball wrote: So the belief that a Best Popular Film Academy Award category would ruin a blockbuster's chances at a Best Picture nomination is total horse hockey.
Actually, there's a very good reason for having a separate category for animated films, because the skill set involved in making an animated movie is vastly different from making a live action feature. It's the same reason they have a documentary category and a short subject category, original and adapted screenplay categories, and, in years past separate black & white and color categories for cinematography, costuming and production design.

Blockbusters have won Oscars (Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Gladiator, Gone with the Wind, Around the World in 80 Days), so there is no reason to have a separate category for these films. This decision will have two effects: (1) given a choice between nominating Black Panther and some independent film, a number of voters will rationalize that Black Panther has its own category that it will surely get a nomination and be likely to win whereas this is the only recognition (and publicity) the indie film can get, and (2) producers of big budget spectaculars may decide they no longer need to make the best movie possible but merely one that is "good enough" to get a Best Popular film nomination and spend the extra time and budget on more CGI effects instead.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:34 am
by Vandal
The Silence of the Lambs
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release date
January 30, 1991 (New York City)
February 14, 1991 (United States)
Box office $272.7 million[2]

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:06 am
by earendel
AMPAS has decided not to implement the new "Most Popular Film" category for this year's Oscar ceremonies.
The Academy recognized that implementing any new award nine months into the year creates challenges for films that have already been released.
Some suggest it's because the announcement of this new category didn't exactly receive overwhelming enthusiastic responses.

Re: Change is coming to the Oscars

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:02 am
by Vandal
earendel wrote:AMPAS has decided not to implement the new "Most Popular Film" category for this year's Oscar ceremonies.
The Academy recognized that implementing any new award nine months into the year creates challenges for films that have already been released.
Some suggest it's because the announcement of this new category didn't exactly receive overwhelming enthusiastic responses.


I blame sss.