Oscar voters no longer seem keen on Hollywood megahits
Titantic-style blockbusters are failing to register on the Oscar radar. The current trend is to honour small, artsy films
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences hands out its coveted Oscar for Best Picture on Sunday, odds are the 6,500-plus members will anoint a film that fits the mould of recent honorees — smallish and artsy.
Gone are the days when megahits, such as Titanic or Lord of the Rings, win Best Picture.
Nowadays, the prize is more likely to go to a smaller-budget film with limited exposure outside of big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.
This year’s nine hopefuls averaged $54 million (U.S.) in domestic ticket sales before their nominations were announced, according to comScore Inc., not enough to rank in the top 50 for the year.
While the Academy doubled the number of possible nominees to 10 in 2010 to make room for box-office hits, the appeal of the slate has dwindled over the years.
That suggests members more than ever are emphasizing creativity over financial success.
In 2015, the year Birdman won, the eight films vying for best picture had taken in an average of $25.6 million before their nominations, a recent low.
When Titanic won in 1998, the prenominations average of the five contenders was $96.2 million.
La La Land, a musical about lovers struggling to succeed in show business, and Hidden Figures, about the contributions of three AfricanAmerican women to the early space program, have been the breakout pictures among this year’s nominees. If either captures the Oscar, they would rank among the most successful in a decade.
Hidden Figures, from 21st Century Fox Inc.’s film division, has the largest domestic haul among the nominees at $144.5 million as of last weekend, according to comScore. It’s the third favourite to win at 50-1, according to awards tracker GoldDerby.com.
La La Land is the clear favourite, at 2-11. The film from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. has the second-biggest tally domestically at $134.6 million and is the global leader at $340.5 million. It’s also still rolling up sales, with a Feb. 14 release in China and expanded play in the U.S. on Imax Corp.’s big screens.
The second favourite for top prize, at 18-1, is Barry Jenkins’s coming-ofage feature Moonlight, distributed by A24. If that picture wins, its $22 million in domestic sales would mark the smallest total since The Hurt Locker in 2010.
Recent data suggest the financial benefit of an Oscar nomination has also waned, probably because the pictures themselves lacked wide appeal.
Still, some studios have managed to maximize the opportunity. Warner Bros.’ American Sniper generated 99 per cent of its $350 million in North American ticket sales after being nominated for Best Picture.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore, said the nominee with most to gain from a win this year is the Weinstein Co. release Lion, about a lost Indian boy who is adopted by an Australian couple. The film was the last of the Best-Picture nominees to gain wide release. It’s an 80-1 shot at GoldDerby.
The studios with most to celebrate at this year’s awards have seen better days commercially. Lions Gate has struggled to develop big films with the appeal of earlier successes such as The Hunger Games and the Twilight series, yet garnered the most Oscar nominations of any distributor with La La Land, the Second World War drama Hacksaw Ridge and Hell or High Water, a crime thriller set in modern-day west Texas.
Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures had the second-most nominations because of two Best-Picture hopefuls, Arrival and Fences. Yet Viacom replaced studio chief Brad Grey on Wednesday because of losses and is seeking a successor.