Academy's New 'Popular Film' Oscar Not So Popular

 

A recent announcement about an addition to the Academy Awards has led to a lot of talk. And much of it is negative.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday it is creating an Academy Award for “outstanding achievement in popular film.”

The move is proving to be extremely unpopular, at least among film critics and academy members. Actor Rob Lowe, a longtime member, described the Oscars as dead, “survived by sequels” and other things.

The Academy announced other changes, as well. Those changes received a mix of praise and protest. Many expressed happiness, for example, about the decision to hold the Oscars ceremony in 2020 earlier than usual, on February 9. This year’s event took place on March 4.

The Academy also announced it would shrink the broadcast to three hours. To do that, some award announcements will not be included in the live broadcast.

The new “popular film” award raised many questions, like:

Why is the Academy doing this?

The Academy is making the change mainly because of falling ratings for the Oscar ceremony’s live telecast. About 26.5 million people watched this year’s telecast, which lasted almost four hours. That was a 20-percent audience drop from the year before, and well below the show’s highest levels.

In 2014, 43.7 million watched as the film 12 Years a Slave won best picture. But in every year since, the audience number has decreased.

The academy depends on broadcast earnings¹ for most of its budget.

Whose decision was this?

The academy’s 54-member board of governors approved the recent measures. The organization’s 7,000 members were not part of the discussion. Many of them argue that a “popular film” award is a weak attempt to gain viewers.

Writer Adam McKay is an academy member. He won the 2016 best screenplay Oscar for “The Big Short.” McKay joked on Twitter that the Oscars will also have new awards for “best knife throw” and “hottest female alien.”

The academy’s broadcasting partner, ABC, also influenced the decision. It had pressured Oscar producers to make the telecast more broadly appealing.

Has the Academy ignored hit films in the past?

This year’s Oscars actually included a number of major financial successes, including best picture nominees³ Get Out and Dunkirk, animated⁴ feature winner Coco, and Blade Runner 2049.

Hit films like Beauty and the Beast, Baby Driver and Star Wars: The Last Jedi also were nominated.

And the academy has shown increasing willingness to nominate horror and sci-fi movies.

Smaller films win more Oscars

No best picture winner since 2012′s Argo has cleared $100 million in national box office sales. Independent films have won 10 of the last 11 best picture Oscars, including the movies Moonlight, Spotlight⁵, Birdman and The Artist.

Define ‘popular’ film

The academy has not been exact in its definition of “popular” film. It did say the academy “supports broad-based consideration of excellence⁶ in all films.”

So how does one measure popularity?

Ticket sales might be one way. So, would the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story be in Oscars competition? The film made $213 million in North America. Yet, it did not get much critical praise.

And would overseas sales count? Would a traditional Oscar nominee² like La La Land have been considered a “popular” film? It made $446 million worldwide.

Will anyone want a “popularity” award?

Some in Hollywood might consider it insulting to being nominated for the new award. Many will likely consider it of lower value, or not a “real” Oscar.

However, the term “Oscar winner” can greatly increase the power of actors, directors, producers and others in the industry. So, any Oscar is desirable.

And some in Hollywood argue that a film can be both hugely “popular” and a critical success.

This year has already offered up an especially good example. Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther was a huge hit for Disney, earning over $1.3 billion worldwide. It also received high critical praise.

Some worry that Black Panther might be forced into the “popular film” group because of its financial success.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

I'm Caty Weaver⁷.

Words in This Story

negative - adj. expressing dislike or disapproval⁸?

sequel - n. a book, movie, etc., that continues a story begun in another book, movie, etc.?

outstanding - adj. extremely good or excellent?

achievement - n. something that has been done or achieved through effort: a result of hard work?

audience - n. the people who watch, read, or listen to something?

viewer - n. a person who watches television?

animated - adj. produced by the creation of a series of drawings, pictures, etc., that are shown quickly one after another : produced through the process of animation⁹?

sci-fi - adj. science fiction

cinematography - n. the art, process, or job of filming movies : motion-picture photography?

alien - n. a creature from somewhere other than the planet Earth

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

4 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

5 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

6 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

7 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

8 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。

9 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。