Oscars’ lustre fades as contenders earn poorly
THE red carpet will be there, as will the famous golden statuettes.
But despite the traditional pomp and ceremony, this year’s Oscars will perhaps be less relevant than ever before.
The annual awards, being held next Sunday, feature the lowestgrossing best picture nominees in six years.
Call Me by Your Name had, as of Tuesday, taken a mere $15-million (R173-million) at the US box office, while Daniel Day-Lewis’s Phantom Thread had barely recouped half of its £35-million (R564-million) budget.
Even Dunkirk, the highestgrossing of the nine nominated films, scarcely made it into last year’s top 20 grossing films, with its $188-million (R2.1-billion) US takings.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by contrast, which is nominated in no major categories, brought in $681-million (R7.8-billion) while even the critically panned Jumanji sequel earned £380-million (R6.1-billion). It all adds up to a worrying time for television executives, with viewing figures for the ceremony in decline as a chasm grows between Oscar-nominated films and those the public actually go to see.
Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, said: “The Oscars are rewarding more and more niche films.
“There’s not a lot to talk about in terms of social media buzz, or pop culture significance.”
It was not always this way. Titanic made $600-million (R6.9billion) in 1997, on its way to being awarded best picture.
The following year, Forrest Gump dominated US box offices with $330-million (R3.8-billion).
The last time a top-grossing film won was in 2003, with Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
Television ratings for the Oscars have been suffering – last year just 32.9 million watched the show – the fewest since 2008. –