Money talks and after decades it appears ABC was finally able to persuade the Academy to make significant changes to the Oscars telecast. These were announced in a letter to Academy members this morning after a vote from the newly elected officers of the Academy although some details are still fleeting. And it’s impressive how the Academy kept these proposed changes quiet considering there were “working groups” that spent “several months” looking to improve the telecast. You’d almost think they were writing the script to a Marvel movie (wait, too soon?).
The key addition to the changes is the new Popular Film Category. That’s a whole drama into and of itself and we’ll get to it in a minute because there was actually one good piece of news in the E-mail; the show will now air two weeks earlier.
The 92nd Academy Awards is now schedule to be broadcast on Feb. 9, 2020. That’s just two weeks earlier than the previously announced Feb. 23rd date, but allows the Academy to significantly shorten the second phase of Oscar voting. We should assume phase one of nomination voting will shorten as well, but probably only by a week (this year nomination voting ends on Monday, Jan. 14). Up until 2004 the Oscars traditionally took place on the third Sunday in March. Since then it would pop into the first week of March to avoid a ratings conflict with the Winter Olympics, but even the end of February felt a bit long to be celebrating films released the previous year.
By announcing this change now, ABC has also put a stake in the ground telling CBS and The Recording Academy this weekend is ours. Ever since the Oscars moved to the end of February the Grammys, which traditionally aired on that date, had popped up to the second Monday or Sunday in February or the date Oscar is now claiming. To say CBS and The Recording Academy are not thrilled this morning is probably an understatement. Their choices for viable dates are limited due to the NFL Playoffs (which CBS currently airs), the Super Bowl and the Martin Luther King Day, Jr. holiday weekend. They might find themselves moving to after the Oscars which has not occurred since 1965.
The changes which are disheartening, but were likely inevitable revolve around not airing all the winners during the live telecast. Instead, some winners will be awarded during commercial breaks and then moments from their acceptance speeches will be incorporated later on into the show. This is all to adhere to a new 3-hour limit to the Oscars which clearly ABC feels will encourage more people to watch (would love to see the research on this). The Academy did not reveal which categories will face this option, but outside of the short categories (Live Action, Animated and Documentary) it will probably change on a year-by-year basis. Whether the Academy has agreed to limit the off screen winners to a specific number is also unknown, but if they haven’t they are playing with fire with a network which would likely prefer to announce just 12 categories live (you can easily figure them out). There is going to be a lot of blowback from membership with this, but not as much as the most eye-brow raising bit of news in the E-mail.
The Academy has announced that they are working on creating a category to honor “Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film” with eligibility and other key details forthcoming. We can confirm it will begin with the 91st Academy Awards this February. Now, after a breathe and realizing this is near the top of first world problems, where do we even start with this stupidity?
First off, anyone who says this doesn’t diminish the importance of the Best Picture Oscar is fooling themselves. It effectively says that any film that wins Best Picture is in a tiny category of its own. Why not change the title to Best Independent Picture then? Often by winning Best Picture – and campaigning for it – a film actually becomes a “popular film.” This decade alone, “The Shape of Water,” “Moonlight” and “The Artist” earned over half its gross after it was nominated. Even established “hits” such as “The King’s Speech” earned $30 million. Facts are facts, but not enough for ABC it seems.
Secondly, what determines a “Popular Film”? We have to assume this can only be judged by Box Office. How nebulous is that? Is $20 million U.S. popular? Is $50 million? Is it $100 million? What if a film earns just $48 million with a $50 million floor? Is it really not that popular? And what about films that are hugely popular overseas? (“The Shape of Water” earned $131 million outside the U.S., is that not popular?) What about films that are only popular in the U.S., but not overseas? Are moviegoers going to nominate this category? Is it effectively a People’s Choice honor? Frankly, that would be easier to stomach than members of the Academy voting for it.
Third, by instituting this honor you can be sure that voting members will categorize films for Best Picture and Popular Film. “Oh, ‘Black Panther’? That’s for the Popular Film category.” “Oh, ‘A Star is Born’? That’s a huge hit. That should be in the Popular Film category.” “Oh, isn’t ‘BlacKkKlansman’ a comedy? Shouldn’t I nominate it for Popular Film and not Best Picture?” This year those are three films that are arguably genuine Best Picture players. Will one or more of them be relegated to this new category? This is silly. Over the past 10 years we’ve seen “popular films” such as “Gravity,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Dunkirk,” “Get Out,” “La La Land,” “Hidden Figures,” “Arrival,” “The Martian,” “The Revenant,” “American Sniper,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “American Hustle,” “Argo,” “Les Miserables,” “Django Unchained,” “The Help,” “Toy Story 3,” “Inception” and “Life of Pi” earn Best Picture nominations. These are films that all earned over $100 million in the U.S. Again, how many of them would be relegated to this new category if it existed then?
This change was simply unnecessary. Does ABC really think a category that might give an Oscar not titled Best Picture to “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” or “Mary Poppins Returns” is going to get more people to watch? Maybe they’ll be a slight uptick, but ratings over the years have lived and died on the hosts. If they want bigger ratings pay Ellen DeGeneres whatever she wants to host again or convince Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to reunite. That’s a much better solution to the problem. Going in the direction of the Critics Choice Awards is asinine and certainly hasn’t made them any more relevant.
Let’s make things clear. After covering the Oscars for well over a decade I’m not a purist whatsoever. I still advocate that the Academy should expand the acting and directing categories to seven or eight nominees. Like Best Picture, I believe the Foreign Language Film category should potentially include up to 10 nominees. I actually think there should be 10 Best Picture nominees a year and the Academy should do away with its voting formula that limits it to eight or nine slots. But this “Popular Film” category? This is such a mistake. We truly are in the worst timeline.
Of course, the membership can rise up and kill it. They can let their voices be heard. They can stop this change. But will they? I mean, doesn’t everyone want one of those shiny statues? Ponder.
The 91st Academy Awards will be broadcast on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 24.