Thread "Best Popular Film Category" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 1:08PM, Aug. 11, 2018

I don't know if really anyone pays attention to the Academy Awards/Oscars. If you haven't heard, the are bouncing around a new category called Best Popular Film. If you google it, I'm sure you can find all the critiques about what a bad idea it is. Here is one of the early articles announcing it.

What is your thoughts about this? Does it undermine the Best Picture? Is it just way for Disney to guarantee the Black Panther wins at least one award? (that actually is the opinion of one of the opinion pieces I found). Does anyone still actually watch/care about the awards?

I personally have never watched the awards all the way through. I did watch the the intro for the awards when it was done by Billy Crystal when he was bouncing through the blockbusters of the year (Pirates of the Caribbean, LOTR: Return of the King, Sea Biscuit, etc.). But I think I even saw that intro after the awards had actually aired.

Segues are weird.

The Duck's own parody of the Academy Awards, The Drunk Duck Awards, is now in full swing. Please go check out the comic if you haven't already.

Posted at 5:08PM, Aug. 11, 2018

I have no issue with it, people are always whinging that critics are in touch with the masses, this gives a category that can scratch that itch. It's like the popular vote award on the DD awards.

Posted at 5:08PM, Aug. 11, 2018

It's like the popular vote award on the DD awards.

We so did it before it was cool.

Posted at 10:08PM, Aug. 11, 2018

It's not a bad idea. It helps make the academy awards more popular and more in touch.
The academy is just made up of people in the film industry who want to be seen as worthy in their choices, and many are old and very out of touch with what's actually going on- like when Disney and Pixar films always get awards for best animated film, besides the one or two Studio Ghibli films that only get awards because they're distributed by Disney… Moronic stuff like that.
They need to be opened up so they stay relevant and actually honour the stuff that people see.

Posted at 8:08PM, Aug. 12, 2018

There was always pressure to recognize popular films, which is the only reason LotR:Return of the King got a best picture award, but the majority of the academy would rather give the award to something more 'worthy' and arty. By fencing off 'popular' they are now free to give the big award to something that they consider 'good cinema', even if only film festival audiences have seen it.

Posted at 5:08PM, Aug. 13, 2018

I don't really see the point. Popular films are made to generate massive revenue first and foremost, so that's their reward. If you have to create a special "kiddie table" section just for them, that sort of acknowledges that they don't belong. I don't see why either the Academy or moviemakers would want anything to do with this.

The Academy should focus on doing their thing, and let the popular films have their MTV Movie Awards, as it should be.

Posted at 1:08PM, Aug. 14, 2018

I think that is the point. The MTV Awards, People's Choice, etc. are more popular and the Academy is trying with this new category to have it's cake and eat it too.

Look! A popular award. You plebs all like popular awards don't you. But, just remember, the real one, the main award, is the serious statue we give for 'Best' Picture, which is a movie you've never seen and don't want to see, because it's long and depressing and nothing blows up or gets shot. But trust us, you'll love it when you're grown up. Honest. Now go back to your stale popcorn and light entertainment while we eat canapes and drink champagne and talk about how the 'best' picture is a window into the soul of cinema, and, in a delicious dichotomy, how it reveals the underlying beauty of the real world and the common people while at the same time removing itself from the world, and speaking only to the elite.

Posted at 5:08PM, Aug. 14, 2018

Best Popular film strikes me as a little pointless, too. However, Most Popular might be interesting for people like me who don't follow gross ticket sales. And would it just be ticket sales, or international deals, merchandising, etc.?

The runners-up could be identified by most popular with this continent, this/these age groups – but is it enough for The Big Win? Would there be data collection at theaters, like "We noted that the most popular films all had pre-film advertising for Red Bull" – so then film distributors could start vying for specific advertisers. How would That domino?

Seriously, Most Popular could demonstrate the public's influence on film-mailing instead of just the film-makers (assumed) influence on the public.

Posted at 6:08AM, Aug. 15, 2018

There's a misconception that the Academy Awards are about rewarding grown-up, critically acclaimed, "good" film.
This is of course total bullshit. :)

The Academy Awards like almost EVERY film award is completely about marketing. Plenty of popular popcorn films win it, they always have. Even the more "serious" films that win it are almost always big budget movies with big stars and famous pedigrees.
Sure, people do tend to vote on things that will make them look more "worthy" but it's ONLY out of a tiny pool of giant Hollywood movies. Any foreign ones that get in (out of the small pool that escape their own category), are generally big commercial films.

If the Academy Awards were about serious film then most of the films that get nominations these days would NEVER ever even be considered.

Certain films are made as Oscar-bait every year, we all know this, it's no secret. They're not high-brow, rather they're juuuuuussst high-brow enough to get those votes. Real high-brow, intelligent cinema is what you get in the foreign film and indie film circuit because it tends not to make any decent money in the USA.
It's all down the marketing and economics.

Posted at 4:08PM, Aug. 16, 2018

Sometimes, I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just rank Hollywood films based on how much money they made. Most profits = best film. So simple! XD XD

Posted at 9:08AM, Aug. 17, 2018

Isn't that success its own reward?

Posted at 11:08AM, Aug. 19, 2018

Genejoke wrote:
Isn't that success its own reward?

Yes, and it's probably the reward most movie makers would choose, given a choice.

Like other people I don't really see the point, but I don't mind them doing it. There's a certain skill in making something that's enjoyed by the largest audience possible, and it's okay if they make an award for that. People sometimes look down on the standard Hollywood popcorn flick, but when I have family in town visiting, I always appreciate having a "fun for everyone" movie.

Posted at 3:08AM, Aug. 20, 2018

fallopiancrusader wrote:
Sometimes, I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just rank Hollywood films based on how much money they made. Most profits = best film. So simple! XD XD

That would be a truer way to gauge it.
Although it's doing this a little bit backwards when it come to the Oscars, since they're a marketing tool to GET more earnings.

Posted at 3:08AM, Aug. 20, 2018

ozoneocean wrote:
fallopiancrusader wrote:
Sometimes, I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just rank Hollywood films based on how much money they made. Most profits = best film. So simple! XD XD
That would be a truer way to gauge it.
Although it's doing this a little bit backwards when it come to the Oscars, since they're a marketing tool to GET more earnings.

Also, the money a film makes does not exactly mirror its popularity. I take "popularity" to mean that the people who watched it actually liked it, and you usually spend your money on the movie ticket before you find out whether you like it or not… I guess revenue more directly mirrors a film's marketing success and the reputation of the people involved.
Compare the fact that the second Ant-Man movie was treated as slightly disappointing, even though it grossed more than the first (and also more than most "Phase 1" Marvel Studios films). Is it more popular than those movies? I guess the property is just better known by now, and Marvel Studios have a great reputation, not to mention interconnecting storylines!
(Of course, return viewers, merchandise and home video do contribute to the money a movie makes, and these do strongly reflect popularity.)

Posted at 4:08AM, Aug. 21, 2018

Considering how much lobbying and shameless pandering that goes into getting nominations, outside of the technical awards it's all marketing.
The technical guys usually go for the best films which is why those are the categories popular films often get nominations for.
The first Star Wars got all kinds of technical nominations. Best special effects is relatively recent and at first was derided for bowing to popular films.
But it's still all marketing for box office and sales.
Read any biography or autobiography of a golden age of Hollywood actor and you'll read stories about the studios pandering to them by offering a nomination to renew a contract or making trades and deals regarding nominations and even awards.
And I really haven't watched the show since Billy Crystal hosted. Johnny Carson was so good but Bob Hope hosted it when it was just a simple banquet. They should just go back to that and forget padding out the show.