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April 29, 2003
And so, the 2004 Oscar season begins…
Twelve days does not seem like a long time in a three hundred and sixty five day year. But the close of Oscar nomination balloting on January 17 instead of January 29 is about to change the entire face of the Oscar process.
I wrote briefly about the issue on Movie City News yesterday afternoon. But a few hours later, I am thinking about the bigger picture.
This year’s Oscars carried the stench of the most overtly unattractive campaigning in history. Can the Golden Globes’ perceived legitimacy survive a move to January 11 that clearly could have no purpose other than to position the awards to seem influential on The Oscars? If the Golden Globes moved a week earlier, would the nomination announcement move a week earlier… to the insane December 13 from the idiotic December 20? If the Globes announce nominations on the 13th, will critics groups push their awards earlier so they can continue to appear to influence The Globes?
Or…
Do the critics groups finally stand up and say, “Enough!?” Do they move their announcements to the first week of January, influential on Oscar voting, but not caught up in the pandering of the Golden Globes?
Could this selfish move by the Academy so screw up the system that the whole system will have to be remade in a more sensible way? It’s not as though the late December rush of product was sensible or helpful in getting quality movies seen by the largest possible audiences. And the idea that independent titles may now have to be released in October in order to make a serious run at Oscar is actually kind of thrilling. Instead of October as dump month, it will now be loaded with some really interesting titles.
Could it be that this effort to de-prioritize the Golden Globes and to get the Oscars into February sweeps (the season will be even five days shorter next year if the Academy chooses to keep the show in February) will actually open up the field, taking some power away from the major marketing machines and forcing Oscar voters to consider the full year of films since they can’t see everything that normally might open in December?
Strategy will have to change. This year, Chicago went wide on February 7, giving it six full weeks to gain momentum before final polls closed. This year, a Feb. 7 widening would give a film only two weekends before final polls close. In the case of Chicago, that would be a $60 million difference… $60 million that was a very valuable tool in convincing Oscar voters that backing Chicago was backing a winner.
On the other hand, a short season might prevent backlash for some films. In many ways, the success of Miramax in Oscar season can be attributed to unending, unrelenting tenaciousness. A shorter season would seem to devalue that style of Oscar campaigning.
But no one knows. Every year, the award season varies with the specific films in play and the varying strategies. That’s not good for driving the egos of me and the other Oscar prognosticators. But that’s the truth. As usual, everything will be determined by how the studios perceive the changes.
One strategist suggested on Monday that all of this is really an effort to put the power back in the hands of the studios. But I don’t really see it that way. What I think is that everyone is going to have to make more solid decisions. I look forward to getting an entire library of awards DVDs each year, but perhaps studios will have to make some hard choices. There has never been enough time to sell every film they advertise come Oscar time. But now, the Phase One window has been cut by three weekends.
Let’s see where it goes…
GOOD ANIMATRIX NEWS: If you live in L.A., there will be a chance to catch The Animatrix on the big screen. Even better, it will be the night before the release of The Matrix Reloaded. More info here.
READER OF THE DAY: RD TO RUIN wrote in with this spoiler: “Don't know if you caught Identity over the weekend, so if you haven't read no further. If you are still reading, I wanted to point out something that occurred to me after my friend and I walked out of the theater. While we both enjoyed the film, which I wasn't expecting, it hit me that we had just watched Donald Kaufman's The Three! Well not exactly, (more like The Ten or The Eleven) but it is as close to it as we will probably ever see on the big screen. The fact that I enjoyed it proved to me once again that Charlie Kaufman is a genius. If I could be entertained by a movie that is so similar to a punchline in one of his movies, what could he possibly do that I wouldn't enjoy.”
THE OTHER BEE GEE writes: “Now that we’re a little under two weeks away from the kick off of the Summer movie season (sorry, Adam and Jack…B.O. is impressive, but you’re still just place-holding for the man with the adamantium claws), I just wanted to blah blah a few of my thoughts on some of the higher profile movieage spewing our way:
First up: X-MEN 2 or X2 or X2: X-MEN UNITED, or HALLE BERRY’S WIG STILL LOOKS LIKE SHIT. The trailers thus far lead one to think this film is going to finally pay off on the belief (mine anyway) that Bryan Singer is destined to be this generation’s Spielberg. Laugh, scoff, mock if you must…but just go look at the guy’s credits: THE USUAL SUSPECTS, APT PUPIL, X-MEN. All these films have one defining thread in common – Natural. Born. Storyteller. As for the film itself, to me it looks like Singer’s version of the first movie with the budget he desperately wanted.
THE MATRIX RELOADED – So the HULK’s gonna beat this one, huh? Sorry, but that would call for a resounding WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? This one’s been brewing in the pop-cultural zeitgeist since ’99, and deserves just as much credit as LOTR for knocking STAR WARS off the trilogy throne. Jedis were dated the moment Carrie Ann Moss took out that roomful of cops. And I’ve got four words: Giant. Fucking. Samurai. Swords. Consider it a done deal. I’m ready to get in line NOW NOW NOW.
THE HULK – Okay, okay. So we got a pop-culturally iconic superhero. A giant budget. An A-list filmmaker. All the makings of THE event movie of the Summer YOU say? I say: the Hulk featured in THE HULK looks like, what the French would call, shit. Yes, I’ve only seen the trailer. No, I didn’t see it on the big screen. Now answer my question: back in 1993, how come I had to scrape my jaw off the floor the first time I beheld the dinosaurs of JURASSIC PARK on my lil’ 20”, non-digital cable havin’ TV set? These effects just don’t elicit the gasps they should. Please understand, I am not some obsessive fanboy upset because they omitted some minute detail I remember from the comic…I didn’t even like the comic (let’s face it… nobody did). The effects do not look convincing. The Hulk looks like a giant, green balloon popping and fizzing around the screen. The shot of him hurling the tank is just dopey. I’m hoping I’m wrong, really. I mean, Jennifer Connelly is in it so I’m there anyway.
BRUCE ALMIGHTY: Make me care.
TERMINATOR 3: Without James Cameron, does it even matter? I like Mostow, but this francise needed Cameron, who would have found a way to make this material exciting and relevant again in the wake of THE MATRIX. Does it get any sadder than watching a saggy Arnold try and stave off the new milleniu…I mean, the Machines?
THE ITALIAN JOB: Can someone PLEASE ask Hollywood to let go of the Mark Wahlberg experiment? Say it with me: MARK WAHLBERG IS NOT A LEADING MAN…and Edward Norton better get interesting again, and soon.
HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE: Fuck Harrison Ford, what the hell happened to Ron Shelton? Cable’s been showing TIN CUP a lot lately and I weep at the passing of this one-time unique talent.
Sentimental favorite that probably isn’t any good: THE IN-LAWS – everything on down to my DNA tells me I should hate the very idea of an IN-LAWS remake…but dammit…I have just that kind of love for Albert Brooks. And besides… I think Billy Cyrstal was originally attached to the film, and THAT catastrophe would have been more horrific than any human being could bear. Just the fact that he’s not in it makes it a wash if the film sucks.
I could go on…but I won’t.”
E ME: What could you write that would be right?
