Whenever the Academy Awards roll around each year, someone inevitably brings up some form of argument about how the event is outdated, too pretentious, and filled with old men who have no idea what a good film is if it came up and slapped them in the face. Yes, I’m still annoyed Wonder Woman got completely snubbed while Meryl Streep got nominated AGAIN.
Well, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (the folks who run the whole shindig) decided to stir the pot early for the next event by announcing the addition of a new category called “Outstanding Achievement In Popular Film”.
So what they essentially did was add in the Oscar equivalent of Nickelodeon’s Favourite Movie category.
The big change was announced overnight, though the Academy have kept mum on what the eligibility criteria is other than it will be revealed later. However, they did say that a film can be nominated for both Best Picture and the Most Popular starting from 2019 should all things go smoothly.
Now I’m all for recognising more films at the Oscars, but this feels like cop out decision so that the Academy can have its cake and eat it too in regards to recent criticism over how the event snubs big flashy blockbusters in favour of heady drama flicks.
By adding in a Most Popular category, some noted that the Academy has basically created a dumping ground where critically-acclaimed blockbusters can get some of the spotlight while still reserving Best Picture spots for those high-brow films more akin to the Academy voters’ liking.
So I guess this means is awesome blockbusters like Mission Impossible – Fallout and Black Panther are likely to miss out on Best Picture in favour of Most Popular next year, but hey, at least mute sea monster rom-coms and coming-of-age stories that take literally 12 years to make are safe to make the cut.
So basically nothing has changed then.
Sure the last few years has seen some low-earning but well-received movies like The Artist, Spotlight, and Moonlight (not La La Land) win Best Picture, but lest we forget that it wasn’t too long ago when critically-acclaimed, billion-dollar earning blockbusters were winning the Best Picture Oscar regularly.
Have we suddenly forgotten about winners like Titanic, The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, and Gladiator?
At the very least, this means that The Meg is a shoo in for Oscar glory in 2019.