The rough-and-tumble Oscar race imprints a half dozen indelible lessons in Hollywood awards marketing. Going forward, expect rigorous scrubbing for social media accounts of heavily promoted talent and also pushing self-serving boundaries in defining supporting actor/actress. A Variety article by Clayton Davis notes that old but incendiary social media posts by actress Karla … [Read more...] about Takeaways From Topsy-Turvy Oscar Race
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Oscars Forecast: No Frontrunners
This awards season is back to normal with no Hollywood labor strikes and no Covid, but it also is lacking consensus frontrunners for Oscars Best Picture. “So far, 2024 has been a down year at the box office [off 12% year-to-date] and a confusing year on the film festival circuit,” writes Steve Pond in Hollywood trade newspaper TheWrap. “There’s no big commercial movie out … [Read more...] about Oscars Forecast: No Frontrunners
Film Fests Want Oscars Mojo Back
Movie festivals in the autumn lost their prominence as Oscar launching pads in recent years, but this cycle are working hard to again be harbingers of awards. “For 14 years between 2007 and 2020, from ‘No Country for Old Men’ to ‘Nomadland,’ the Oscar Best Picture winner screened (and in all but three cases premiered) at the Venice International Film Festival, the Telluride … [Read more...] about Film Fests Want Oscars Mojo Back
Streamers’ Billboards a Sign of the Times
Video streamers have elbowed alongside movies for visibility in greater Hollywood’s outdoor billboard scene for awards consideration, joining films seeking to turn heads of industry voter for Oscars and other accolades. This season, video streaming services Hulu, Paramount+ and Netflix are particularly visible. Dotting the fabled Sunset Strip canyon are film awards … [Read more...] about Streamers’ Billboards a Sign of the Times
Film Awards Juggernaut Suffers Dings
The movie awards industry, whose apex will be the Oscars telecast coming March 10, is buffeted by isolated storms though the promotional juggernaut keeps cruising along. It’s estimated that several hundred million dollars are spent each year on awards marketing. A film critic organization is fighting allegations of vote tampering, the bellwether Golden Globes is in rehab, … [Read more...] about Film Awards Juggernaut Suffers Dings
Swift, Beyoncé Bounced From Oscars
The upcoming Taylor Swift and Beyoncé concert theatrical films shape up as cinema blockbusters, but neither is expected to be eligible for Oscar consideration under current Academy Awards rules, according to a Variety story. The problem is these are self-made films crossing a line into self-promotion, and not from independent documentarians. Both concert films fall into the … [Read more...] about Swift, Beyoncé Bounced From Oscars
Oscars Tighten Campaigning Rules
Rules governing campaigning for Oscar awards were tightened in social media and in other areas this week, but loosened allowing “shortlists” to be promoted. Rules tweaks for the Academy Awards are done annually but this cycle are extensive, particularly after a little-known British actress Andrea Riseborough got nominated last year after waging an aggressive social … [Read more...] about Oscars Tighten Campaigning Rules
Over-the-top Oscar Awards Campaigns
Over the years, campaigns seeking Oscar awards aimed at Hollywood insiders have prayed to the Academy Award gods from the Alamo fortress and hosted a pop-up street stand in Hollywood hosted by a celebrated filmmaker who chatted up passers-by. And an actress personally wrote letters to every Academy Awards voter that she could find. A Hollywood Reporter feature story by Scott … [Read more...] about Over-the-top Oscar Awards Campaigns
Oscars Endured Rough Road to Fame
The Hollywood organization that confers the Oscars was founded in 1927 with strikingly different ambitions than the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) that the world knows today. “The Academy and the Awards” book by Bruce Davis details Oscar’s little-known history going back nearly a century. The Academy Awards — Oscar honors — were not a high priority and … [Read more...] about Oscars Endured Rough Road to Fame
Will Crowd-Pleasers Rule the Oscars?
“Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” can win Oscar Best Picture, say awards pundits, instead of the low-grossing, high-brow movies that usually scoop up Hollywood’s most prestigious award. The National Board of Review (NBR), which is composed of up-market film buffs, actually voted Paramount Pictures’ “Maverick” its Best Picture earlier this month. That’s not … [Read more...] about Will Crowd-Pleasers Rule the Oscars?