Oscars 2022, in order to appeal to a wider audience, has introduced a new category. The Academy, about a week ago, had announced that introduction of a category where the winner will be decided by a public vote. People can vote on Twitter for their favourite film of 2021 using #OscarsFanFavorite or by casting a ballot on the Oscars Fan Favorite website (Voting via the site is available only to users in the United States).
As per a report from Deadline, Amazon’s Cinderella, starring Camilla Cabello, is so far leading the polls in the fan favourite category. It was widely expected that Spider-Man: No Way Home would be the frontrunner to win in this category due to its popularity but as of now this is not the case.
As per the report, the initial overwhelming leader was Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a movie which is not even eligible as a Director Cut is not eligible and the original movie released a few years ago. However, as the week progressed, it is Amazon’s musical Cinderella leading the polls and is an easy no. 1 at the time of the report.
Although this has baffled people, as the movie wasn’t well received with low ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The entire process can be easily influenced as it requires people to vote on a social media website. Also, this report is based on votes on Twitter. But there is no way to know the trend of votes on the Oscar Website which is open to US audiences.
But does it even really matter which movie wins it given the ulterior motive of introducing this category?
Most people saw this initiative of a fan favourite category as an attempt to make the ceremony more popular by including movies which were huge at the box-office and widely loved but did not find a nomination in any of the leading categories. There was a significant negative reaction when movies like Spider=Man and the latest James Bond movie (No Time to Die) were snubbed by the Academy for a nomination in the Best Picture Category. This is a shot at including such movies as part of the Oscar narrative and increase the reach of the show.
Be it Amazon’s Cinderella or an ineligible movie, this has surely increased the buzz around the ceremony on social media. This is also expected to
result in more eyeballs for the awards shows with people eager to know which movie wins, even if it means a win for a movie which may be embarrassing for the Academy as it may neither be popular at the box-office or well-received by critics. Executives at ABC, where the ceremony is scheduled to be televised, will not be complaining. Ratings of the ceremony have plummeted over the last few years. They could do with some help.
As the adage goes, no publicity is bad publicity. Do you agree?