Disney-ABC request for popular Oscar category sparks Backlash

[QuinnFillory]

Here is an article about possible winners if this category had existed before:

https://ew.com/movies/ew-awards-popular-film-oscars/

[AnakinFlair]

It really reeks of Disney lobbying for Black Panther to receive an award, just proof that the MCU is so mediocre that they have to create a lower category for them to win an Oscar. They are misguided though thinking it is going to be another guarantee win like the Oscar's animated category. If this category was in place last year, Wonder Woman or Logan would have won. The funny thing too is since the DCEU is younger than the dying MCU and Star Wars, so they are more likely to pick up more nominations and wins. Avengers, GotG, Winter Soldier, and the Force Awakens could have been winners.

Man, what color is the sky in your world?

It's something that studios love to use to sell Blu-ray and on demand. If you see the Suicide Squad movie Blu-ray on a shelf you bet there will be a sticker on it boasting it as an Oscar winner.

They also sometimes re-release the movies in theaters. I think they did that for Shakespeare in Love and The King's Speech.

Mad Max: Fury Road was nominated for best picture, but now would it just be placed under this new category and that's it?

The funny thing is that they expanded the Best Picture category from 5 to 10 films in an effort to give those popular, popcorn movies a nomination, if nothing else. And then last year they didn't even fill all of the nomination slots.

[AnakinFlair]

Double post because this site is on crack.

[AJBopp]

The funny thing is that they expanded the Best Picture category from 5 to 10 films in an effort to give those popular, popcorn movies a nomination, if nothing else. And then last year they didn't even fill all of the nomination slots.

I always like Ebert's idea of having two rounds of nominations, one in June and one in December, so that the movies released early in the year aren't overlooked (statistics show they are, and evidenced shows that studios often plan a release for later in the year so that it's more likely to get a nomination (and a potential re-release in theaters).

But ultimately that's not going to change that the Oscars are a celebrity prom queen election. The Golden Globes are much more objective.

[AJBopp]

Double post because this site is on crack.

The important thing to remember is that the first time you hit "Post Reply," it always works. Every time, no matter what your browser or the site wants to tell you. If it wants you to repost, cancel. Your post is already successful. Copy your post and be ready to paste it in a second attempt if it makes you feel more comfortable. But check to see if your first attempt is there first.

[Powerboy]

The Oscars are joke, it's an insiders club. A popular Oscar is good news to me, far too many times genre films are disregarded so this should help getting those films recognized.

Absolutely agree. As many insiders have said themselves all the way back to George C. Scott, the Oscars are an elitist group with all sorts of bargaining, favors and favoritism along with political maneuvering, people voting based on what they think is an important message over quality, etc.

But the main bottom line is that I just bluntly and honestly don't give a damn about most of the movies that get nominated for Oscars in most of my lifetime with rare exceptions. Something like this could at least generate some real interest in the Oscars and give genre movies a chance that they otherwise would never get.

[Powerboy]

It really reeks of Disney lobbying for Black Panther to receive an award, just proof that the MCU is so mediocre that they have to create a lower category for them to win an Oscar. They are misguided though thinking it is going to be another guarantee win like the Oscar's animated category. If this category was in place last year, Wonder Woman or Logan would have won. The funny thing too is since the DCEU is younger than the dying MCU and Star Wars, so they are more likely to pick up more nominations and wins. Avengers, GotG, Winter Soldier, and the Force Awakens could have been winners.

Yes and rightfully so. Either WW or Logan would have been excellent nominations regardless of if they won or not.

And we have yet another desperate wish fulfillment claim that the MCU is dying based on no evidence at all. The biggest superhero movie in history sure is solid evidence of that.

Besides, it's not lowering the quality. Sure, it's self-serving for Disney. But the fact remains that all it would be doing is interjecting something into the Oscars that allows movies anybody actually watched and cares about to have a chance of winning.

[Powerboy]

The Oscars are all popularity awards, and always have been, just popularity awards from select people in the club. This just adds a touch of honesty into what these awards are.

But it does provide the sort of insight into what a studio like Disney will do when it controls as much of the box office as it will after the FOX buyout.

Exactly. The Oscars have always been a popularity contest. This just changes it from popularity only among an elitists's club to something that may more often reflect overall popularity.

Yes this does reflect the kind of power and influence a studio can have but what Disney is doing is just impossible to hide from the general public as opposed to the same sort of stuff that has always gone on behind the scenes at the Oscars.

[Powerboy]

I am completely at a loss to understand how anyone could not imagine it will be an emotional, heart-pounding moment during that pregnant pause when the envelope is ripped open to announce the year's Best Most Popular Movie.

I say we start nominating celebrities best suited to be presenters for the category. My first thoughts: James Gunn and Natalie Portman.

I think there will be more interest in the Popular movie winner than in the Best Picture winner since most likely vastly more people will have seen the Popular movie winner. I'm imagining the next day's headlines: "Black Panther wins most popular movie Oscar. Other movie wins Best picture."

Someone earlier put it best though. I finally have a reason to actually watch the Oscars.

[Tuck]

Finally, popular movies will no longer have to make due with making more money than some small nations.

[Raiders]

The category is a joke, oscars are a joke.
Disney/ABC has lobbied to get the MCU an award.

[Hall]

The category is a joke, oscars are a joke.
Disney/ABC has lobbied to get the MCU an award.

Shouldn't this be unethical and a violation of some media regulation?

[Starter Set]

All that being said, who is going to take the 'Popular' category seriously?

Indeed. It sounds like some one of those silly "teen favorite" award or whatever.

Popular category lol, what is prized there exactly? The quality of writing? Nope. How good the actors were? Noooo. The directing, the editing, the visual? No. Just how much buzz there is around the movie.

The Twilight movies would be Oscars winners by now had that stuff already been around then.

[Colossus1980]

Maybe a ploy to boost Oscar ratings? Heard that last year's ratings were horrible. Possible the main focus is to grab a bigger audience as opposed to Disney being the main culprit?

[Marvelgirl]

Indeed. It sounds like some one of those silly "teen favorite" award or whatever.

Popular category lol, what is prized there exactly? The quality of writing? Nope. How good the actors were? Noooo. The directing, the editing, the visual? No. Just how much buzz there is around the movie.

The Twilight movies would be Oscars winners by now had that stuff already been around then.

Twilight movies were not that bad, if Black Panther can win, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 can win too as the best Twilight film. Though I am surprised everyone is assuming Black Panther would win, it highlights the power of what we see 24/7. My mind was programmed to Black Panther too but after thinking it through, Mission Impossible 6 is the winner right now. Black Panther is average, Mission Impossible 6 is fantastic.