Since then, it has been slowly coming out of the hole. Approximately 18.7 million people watched it last year. That’s a small number compared to last year’s highs, but still an improvement.
There could be many reasons why more people watched this year. That meant his start time was an hour earlier. More than a week before the show, it was announced that Ryan Gosling would be performing “I’m Just Ken.” Instantly social media was buzzing about John Cena nude on stage. And later, host Jimmy Kimmel read former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post and called him “an average person who is trying too hard to be something he is not or something he can never be.” “The following people” were harshly criticized. Emma Stone’s surprise win for Best Actress has some people happy and others furious. Whatever the hell the In Memoriam segment was (but what’s new there?).
But if you’re going to use Occam’s Razor, it might be easiest to focus on a movie’s popularity.
“Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” combined for about $2.5 billion in worldwide box office revenue. “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Poor Things” both collected over $100 million.meanwhile, Anecdotally, movies like The Holdovers, which grossed more than $40 million worldwide, have fared well on streaming services, but most don’t release viewership statistics. yeah.
The school has been chasing this white whale for a while.
In 2019, Washington Post graphic reporter Shelly Tan and I analyzed the popularity of previous Best Picture nominees and found that from 1998 to 2018, “Only one film has grossed more than $100 million in four years. These numbers are remarkable considering that studios routinely spend $200 million just marketing their summer blockbusters.”
Once again, the two major outliers were Christopher Nolan’s work, which won best picture. The 2017 World War II epic Dunkirk grossed approximately $526 million worldwide. Another one of his is his 2010 sci-fi film Inception, which is all about fancy suits and suits. The top earned over $828 million worldwide.
This director Nolan seems to understand that!
The average moviegoer didn’t see many of the movies nominated for major awards. As we reported, “Most of the movies eligible for the Oscars are not very popular. And a few notable spikes, such as 1997, 2009, and 2018, have seen such huge success. This is an outlier, as Titanic, one of the highest-grossing films of all time, was nominated for (and won) in 1998. “Avatar,” which made more than $850 million, was nominated in 2010.”
It wasn’t always like that. Here are some of his smaller films from the 1970s that were nominated for Best Picture. “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” “Taxi Driver,” “The President’s Men,” “The Exorcist,” and “M*A*S*H.” Award-winning films include blockbusters such as “Rocky,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “The Sting,” and “The Godfather,” all of which earned him more than $485 million in the U.S. alone. (adjusted for inflation).
Meanwhile, ratings for the Oscars telecast have generally declined since 1998, when Titanic was among the top five grossing films. foreverwon 11 awards, including the Big Enchilada.
Eleven years later, the Academy addressed the issue with the 2008 Batman blockbuster, The Dark Knight. hey hey! , Christopher Nolan was not nominated for Best Picture. Provoking the usual backlash. In response, the Academy has shortlisted up to 10 Best Picture nominees with the goal of “showcasing popular yet still respected films and, in turn, driving more viewers to the show.” Variety reported that the project has expanded to include works.
It didn’t work. So in 2018, the Academy introduced an award category to honor the achievements of popular films, in an effort to select more blockbusters and attract more casual moviegoers.There will be more backlash from fans and critics asking why popular movies can’t be screened. Also It has artistic value. The Academy listened again and sheepishly withdrew the idea.
But perhaps we should sharpen the old Occam’s razor and look at broader trends. Because a simpler explanation might be that the public is ready for awards shows again. This year, some programs have higher viewer ratings than last year.
Ratings Catalyst The Golden Globes, which featured Taylor Swift, saw ratings rise by nearly 50 percent.of Audience at the Grammys increased by 34 percent, tied to Swift’s overwhelming presence and her realized desire to see Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs perform “Fast Car” together. There may be.
The issue here is that the Emmy telecast set a record low. He also faced extenuating circumstances. The ceremony was postponed by four months due to dual labor strikes in Hollywood, which caused it to conflict with an NFL playoff game and the Iowa caucuses.
Whatever the reason, Oscar ratings have increased for the third year in a row. That means the Academy, and Hollywood as a whole, will likely be looking for ways to repeat this feat.
If the answer is to nominate popular movies, which seems to be the case here a lot, it may not be easy. Babenheimer is a colloquialism referring to his two openings, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”, which, like “Titanic” before it, broke numerous box office records. All the challenges facing the film industry remain, including the ever-present existential threat of streaming.
On the other hand, if the answer is to make Cena, the absolute male figure, walk around the stage in a buff style, then the lighting, camera, action.
Kyle Melnick contributed to this report.
