WATCH WHAT HAPPENS!
With Hollywood’s biggest night upon us, how will Oscar deal with no host, Netflix, superheroes and more?
IT’S 2019, and even a fluffy ceremony designed to celebrate a simple leisure-time activity you’re meant to eat Goobers to is a veritable minefield.
As seems inevitable these days, controversy has been slowly building around this Oscars ceremony pretty much since the staff started running a vacuum down the aisle after last year’s show. Planning to watch Sunday’s telecast and need something to keep you awake during those thirdhour doldrums? Here are five interesting storylines that will be playing out. Can Netflix take home Best Picture?
A top-prize win for the streaming service’s “Roma” would be a milestone, and could upend the very definition of a movie.
“The future is here, and people better get used to it,” says Jeff Ulin, the former head of Lucasfilm distribution. “Netflix is targeting 50-plus movies a year, outpacing most studios and backing big and small projects.”
The prospect is making many in Hollywood quite sweaty. Netflix’s expansion is putting it on a collision course with movie-theater owners, who would obviously prefer if audiences viewed films at their establishments alongside a $16 popcorn.
“Preserving the magic of the theatrical experience is ultimately in everyone’s long-term interest, but how to protect that window is proving an economic conundrum,” says Ulin, author of “The Business of Media Distribution.”
UK cinema chain Vue has threatened it “will not be able to support” British Academy Film Awards after it awarded “Roma” best picture earlier this month.
But Netflix apparently wants this award bad. Real bad.
The company has been taking that $8.99 you give it each month, ostensibly for the privilege of rewatching “Frasier,” and dumping it straight into “Roma” promotion. It has spent a whopping $40 million to $50 million on an Oscar campaign, according to the Ankler.
The company even dropped tens of millions to buy valuable billboards across Hollywood.
“If you drive down Sunset Boulevard, there are four billboards not even in a mile radius,” says Richard Licata, an LA-based awards-marketing pro. “The question is: When do voters say, ‘I’m being assaulted’? I have heard from friends there is an assault factor going on.” Will a hostless ceremony work? Or, more importantly, will it be entertaining? “In the past, hosts have been comedians and actors with strong comedic backgrounds,” says one former Oscars producer who asked to remain anonymous. “If they want to keep the same tone, the producers will have to find another way to serve it. It’s an opportunity for evolution and reimagining.”
Kevin Hart was originally tapped to do the honors, but he had to step aside after old homophobic tweets came to light.
Without a host, where will the laughs come from? Does the show even need them?
Producers will lean on pre-taped pieces, musical
performances and, no doubt, the obligatory forced banter between presenters, who will include Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, Michael Keaton, Helen Mirren, John Mulaney and other won’t-return-your-calls types.
The Academy Awards have previously gone without a master of ceremonies, most recently in 1989. Hard to forget that cheesy opening musical featuring Rob Lowe and Snow White that was so dreadful, it had Walt Disney spinning in his cryotube. Is Bryan Singer gonna get an Oscar?
The disgraced director, who’s been accused of sexual misconduct, helmed Best Picture nominee “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He was also a producer, and could have collected a trophy if the Queen biopic pulls off an upset. But Singer was stripped of the producing credit after he was fired late into production, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Producer Graham King is nowthe sole name attached to the nom, although Singer retains director credit.
“Credit is similar to money, in that it’s a form of compensation,” says LA entertainment lawyer Gordon Firemark. And like money, it can be yanked if someone is determined to be in breach of contract.
No one mentioned Singer when the movie won two Golden Globes. Rami Malek, who plays Queen’s Freddie Mercury, is the pick to win Best Actor and has been grilled about Singer for months while promoting the film. We’ll see if that gauntlet will lead to him directly or obliquely calling out bad behavior if he does triumph. Is the show too damnlong?
Many viewers seem to think so. They gripe incessantly about it online, and last year’s slog-a-thon hit an all-time ratings low.
In an effort to shorten the show, the academy announced a plan to hand out Film Editing, Cinematography, Live-Action Short and Makeup and Hairstyling Oscars during commercial breaks. (Why not first ax the academy president’s speech?)
But after members made a very vocal stink over this, the academy changed its mind. Still, not everyone is concerned with a long awards ceremony.
“I have no problem if the show runs over,” says Mark Pogachefsky, head of an LA entertainment publicity firm and an Oscar voter. “People who want to watch the Oscars are going to watch the Oscars.” Are superhero films worthy of Best Picture?
When 2008’s “The Dark Knight” failed to snag a Best Picture nomination, comic book fans — and fans of films that large audiences actually see in theaters — were bummed.
The outcry led to expanding the Best Picture category and the aborted attempt this year to add a Best Popular Film. “Black Panther” finally broke through with a Best Picture nom. One reason for the breakthrough may be the academy’s changing demographic. As recently as 2012, it was some 77 percent male and 94 percent white, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Since then, the academy claims there’s been a 359 percent increase in women and a 331 percent increase in people of color invited to join. Newbies are often young, too.
“Black Panther” is unlikely to win, but the academy no doubt hopes its inclusion will entice more viewers to tune in and hang in to the end of the broadcast. The bitter, bitter end.