Okay, so now we know who’ll be walking the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre on Feb. 25. Yay. But a bigger — and, for the folks at the Academy and ABC, truly troubling — question looms: Will anybody be watching them strut their stuff?
Thanks to a bleak, simmering brew of low-buzz indie-film nominees, sluggish box office revenues, a zillion cable channels, and general apathy, viewer interest in the Oscars has waned in the years since 55.2 million people in the U.S. watched Titanic’s 1998 sweep. In fact, since 2000, no Academy Awards telecast has come within 10 million viewers of that sum; last year’s 38.9 million was the second-lowest total of the past decade. And that was with the perennially-popular Jon Stewart hosting. The Academy and ABC have taken the hint, amping up their advertising efforts to elevate interest, reports The New York Times. Seems they’ve finally learned that the Oscar brand isn’t enough to get people to watch the show — we homebodies have to be convinced.
Still, doofy commercials featuring Ellen DeGeneres (this year’shost) in full movie-usher regalia can be successful only to a point.More important in getting folks to flip from G4 over to ABC are thenominees themselves. Because folks certainly would rather watch moviesthey’ve seen and enjoyed (say, Titanic or Return of the King) compete for the littlegolden guys than films they’ve never heard of. And this year’s crop is,on this point, dubious. As of today, the combined domestic gross ofthis year’s five Best Picture contenders is a mere $244 million. That’sit. Hell, a Lord of the Rings movie could practically earn that much on a Sunday afternoon before tea time. And half of that comes from The Departed’s $122 milion gross. Otherwise, we’re talking about three films from studios’ specialty labels and one, Letters From Iwo Jima (pictured), that’s in a foreign language — none of which have crossed the $60 million barrier.
Now, I’m not saying that these movies are bad or unworthy of theiraccolades, and it’s worth noting that Oscar nods themselves will boost box officebucks. But when you consider that the total gross of all of last year’sBest Picture nominees was just $245 million, and you then consider howpoorly rated that show was, well, it’s looking like I could be the onlyone watching on Oscar night. Will you tune in with me?
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I hope they get all the Dreamgirls songs sung by the films stars!!!
I’ll be there, if only to see Martin Scorsese (FINALLY) win his well-deserved Oscar. And if The Departed could win Best Picture on top of that, well, then it’ll be worth sitting through the three-plus hour extravaganza.
What Hollywood has to realize is that there are too many freaking award shows honoring the same actors and movies, so why should the public bother to tune in? We already pretty much know the outcome and any surprises will end up on youtube the next day. They have to find ways to get the big stars to attend the awards show even if they’re not nominated. I was really hoping for Brad Pitt to get a nomination for Babel but alas it wasn’t to be. He and Angelina were the main reasons I tuned into the Golden Globes and watched the entire thing. The Academy should really do more to encourage the Pitt, Jolie, Kidman, Halle, Charlize, and even Tom “batsh*t” crazy” Cruise, etc. to show up.
Wow…this is scary, you seem to be more worried about how much money these films have made, rather than the quality of the pictures nominated. Just because it doesn’t make 100 million +, doesn’t mean it is not good. Typical of an audience that doesn’t want to be intellectually stimulated, and would rather have flashy special effects to please them. (I am only going by the films you mentioned yourself.) It seems that you are on the side of popular equals better, even if you did say that you don’t think these are bad movies. I think that this might be the worst commentary on movie going or Oscar buzz I have ever read. I am all for opinions, don’t get me wrong, but I am a little discouraged to be reading this here. This is EW afterall.
The problem I have with The Departed is that the ending had a sloppy domino effect of shooting off every person and then Marky Mark takes the cheese. I wish that LMS would win but realisticly either Babel or LFIJ are probably going to win.
I’ll watch the show, as I do every year, but nobody should expect spectacular ratings–Oscar may be a popularity contest, but it’s ostensibly a socially relevant one, so you rarely see a slew of ratings-boosting blockbusters vying for the top spots–nor should we, this isn’t the People’s Choice awards.
I have to admit, after I read the nominations, I kind of thought, booooring. Good movies, sure, but not good television. And I don’t know why they asked Ellen Degeneres to host. She’s been terrible and reeeeally unentertaining at the other things she’s hosted. Why not Conan O’Brien? Or Jon Stewart again?
Probably not watching if it’s on a Monday or Wed, because I work…but probably wouldn’t watch anyway because none of those movies interest me – except the Departed and Dreamgirls. Saw LMS and I’m like – wtf? is great about that movie? Do I have to see it AGAIN to GET WHY THEY NOM’D THAT MOVIE? No way!
So I’ll be in bed, or watching whatever is on the opposite channel…and I predict most of America will stay away too. You know, there’s no Titanic, no LOTR, these are all small nobody-saw-them type movies. Maybe the world will watch. And who knows who these Asian & Latino actors/actresses are? Never heard of them and probably won’t see them again in LIFE.
To Blair – Joshua Rich wasn’t saying gross = good, he was simply pointing out that a low gross means not many people have seen these movies, which means not many people will be interested in seeing whether or not they win Oscars. It’s a good and valid point.
This was a great year for film! I’ll be ready come Oscar night for the whoe shebang.
The Oscar’s are for flim quality not film grosses. Dreamgirls was a good movie, and it may have been nominated in a different year; but with Babal, Pan’s Laybrinth, Children of Men, The Departed, etc it just wasn’t the best of the year.
I have a totally different take on the situation…I think the nominations were great picks!
Part of why I don’t spend 3-4 hours watching award shows is that I subscribe to EW. You give me a run down of everything. If anything particularly amusing happens, I can look it up on YouTube.
The folks at EW are qvetching about this only because their precious Dreamgirls did not get nominated for best film. All five selections were sound ones (even Babel, which was the only one I initially questioned); certainly more so than the horrendous trainwreck that is Dreamgirls.
Last year everyone was sure ‘Brokeback Mountain’ would win the gold. But Crash took it.
I think this year ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ could be the suprise win. It has a great ensemble cast performance. So maybe Little Miss Sunshine could have a little oscar gold.
I’ll be watching like I do every year. The Oscars are to me like the Superbowl is to many other people: it’s fun to dissect the nominees, it’s fun to make predictions, and regardless of who wins it’ll be entertaining. I love the montages, the hosts (most of the time,) making fun of actors struggling through bad awards show banter, the song performances, making fun of horrendous outfits, drooling over the pretty dresses, and cheering on my favorites. The movie industry is changing and we rarely have huge blockbusters anymor. And there’s so many smaller high-quality films that the few blockbusters we do have rarely ever hog all the nominations. It’s been a great year for film I think, although I’ll admit I am lucky because I live in a major city and am able to see most of the nominated movies.
Why is Letters in the Best Pic category and not best Foreign Language film or something? The whole movie’s in Japanese!
wow sally- that was almost racist
I, for one, love movie making but HATE celebreties. The Oscars is just an excuse for the elite to make a fuss over themselves whether it is a good movie year or a bad one. I don’t think there should be an annual Academy Award at all! Some years it loks like they really scramble to fing worthy work to fill all five slots in a catagory. If an exceptional film or performance comes along in any given year than acknowledge it, but don’t make up lame lists. Peter O;Toole, for example might deserve recognition or United 93 and leave it at that.
I’m in. I’ll be cheering for a few films. And I bet Ellen will be a great host. She’s funny and upbeat. But if I really had to choose a new host, I’d totally pick Stephen Colbert. That’d be fresh, funny, and probably make a few celebs a little nervous.
i agree with everything you say Jeanne. I cant say I agree with you about this being a great yeat. It seems there hasnt been a great year for a while in my opinion. The last movie i saw in the theaters that made want to run right back in to watch it again was eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. no movie has done that since.
I’m a little sick of this Clint Eastwood obsession that the academy has, but I have yet to see either one of his films so i cant really complain entirely. I am a little glad that Dreamgirls isnt up for best pic. i thought it was a good movie but if thats the years best then we have a problem. I feel more bad for Bill Condon who is a very good filmaker and is not getting any recognition for dreamgirls. im glad to see all the love for Pan’s Labyrinth and Paul Greengrass though. overall, it wasnt as bad as i thought or as good as i hoped…
It’s way too early to call a two-way race for Best Picture. The Departed is a great film and has made a lot of money. I think the big story of this award season is the three films by Mexican directors getting major
nominations. Pan’s Labyrinth is the most amazing but Babel and Children of Men are also excellent.
An Academy Award is the highest honor in cinema. The Academy is supposed to nominate and reward the best of the best. Yes, movie making is a business but it is also an art form. Since when have the Oscars EVER been about big office draws? Maybe a lot of people watched the broadcast when Titanic won, but it was one of the biggest examples of a misstep by the Academy. If they went down that road every year, winning an Oscar wouldn’t be as monumental of an achievement as it is now. Who cares how many people watch the show, as long as “Academy Award Winner” after someone’s name can still mean something?
oh yea, and im glad that actors that you “probably won’t see them again in LIFE” get nominated because that means that you don’t have to be a celebrity to be appreciated for the work that you do- thats what this is supposed to be about- the work… who cares if you see them again or not- just cause Jennifer Hudson will probably win doesnt make her an A-list actress… its gonna still be a long, hard road for her and we may not see her again.
A foreign film has to be nominated by that particular country, and I don’t suspect Japan was ready to submit Letters as its choice for best Japanese film (not to mention the other rules set forth by the academy that would prevent it from being eligible).
These two movies look like YAWN city!
Who wants to see a movie that EVERYONE knows Brad Pitt took so that everyone can start taking him serious.
Brad give it up, you’re always going to be a pretty boy no matter what serious role you take. Maybe the role you should take is the one called – taking your clothes off for a role!
i had NOOOOOOO idea the movie “click” would a) ever be nominated for an oscar b) ever be nominated for an oscar for makeup c) had any makeup
I think these two movies were amazing, but based on originality and storyline, Pan’s Labyrinth is the movie of the year. is an experience, if you haven’t seen it, go right now!!
If the general public only tuned in to watch an awards show because they have seen all of the nominated films, then the People’s Choice Awards would be the awards show with the highest ratings.
The Oscars have too many awards presented on the air. If they gave some out earlier and mentioned them during the telecast it wouldn’t be so long. I am going to DVR the Oscars and watchmost of it in fast forward.
Sven,
Dreamgirls was not really a trainwreck compared the Producers musical movie (The original movie was more put together). Dreamgirls was edited well. The transition from the early sixties to the mid seventies was perfectly executed. I do agree with you about the foreign film comment. Water is Canadian but it is in Hindi, not French or English. India would have been ineligable to submit it.
yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn