I always love watching people out in the mainstream try to make sense of this shrinking bubble the Oscar race has become. They seem fairly perplexed by the idea that they have never heard of the films nominated. I do think this year they will get a ratings boost and a lot of that is going to be down to a few popular movies in the race, like Top Gun Maverick, Elvis and Avatar The Way of Water, but hopefully the Gen-z fascination with Everything, Everywhere All At Once might bring in eyeballs, who knows. We’ll see how it goes. I am optimistic.
I look at the trajectory of where things were when I started and where they are now and there has been a dramatic shift. This video lays it out really well – how big budget Hollywood began aiming for the franchise movies, especially as they aimed for international box office. And how silly many of those films are when it comes to sophisticated tastes of critics and Oscar voters. “Movies for adults” is how they’re often described.
But both of these industries can keep the other more honest. If Oscar movies must also be successful with the public, that means the studios should make better movies for the public, which is better for the public and better for Hollywood. It raises the bar for Hollywood and it brings Oscar voters back into the real world. Our country has, I believe, suffered greatly by this “let them eat Marvel” attitude.
The profit model for movies has become what it is for fast food: fewer choices, expectations met. What fast food has done for the body, fast food movies have done for the mind. They can do better and the Oscars should be their high water mark. Right now, big studios don’t care much about winning Oscars. They used to but not anymore.
The only way that will happen is if those of us who cover the race help guide the Oscars and the industry in that direction.
While they can’t ever be what they once were, they should not give up on the people. They should exist FOR the people. There is no other reason for them or for the film industry to exist. It is going to take a village, however, to broaden the scope.
And Honest Trailers this year is pretty funny: