The annual lead-up to the Academy Awards (this year on March 2) is more about campaigning for a film then the actual film itself. Categories are mostly limited, politicking is prevalent (and a little overt this year) and snubs are obvious and subjective at the same time.
There will always be snubs: This year’s list includes Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Emma Thompson, Joaquin Phoenix and others. But many performances, and films in general were forgotten not because of their inferior quality, but because of their release date.
American Hustle, or Explosion at the Wig Factory as Tina Fey put it at the Golden Globes, received 10 nominations and is apparently loved by the Academy this year. David O. Russell is riding an award hot-streak recently, having a movie nominated for Best Picture in each of the last three consecutive Academy Awards. Gravity also received 10 nominations, including Sandra Bullock for Best Actress and a host of technical categories, while 12 Years a Slave received nine nominations. Every category’s nominees can be seen here.
This year, the typical “Oscar season” was the same as in previous years, from October through November. (The deadline to be considered for eligibility is Dec. 31.) But “Oscar season” should qualify as the entire year.
In the Best Picture category, of the nine films nominated, Gravity was the earliest to premiere, released on Oct. 4. The rest straddled the qualification deadline and are the freshest on the minds of voters. Backloaded release dates and promotional campaigns from studios constrain the voting pool and leave the early releases without nominations.
Films should be considered over the 12 months on the calendar, not just the last three. Fruitvale Station and its lead actor Michael B. Jordan would have had a great chance to be nominated if the movie was released in December, not last July. When Fruitvale Station was released, the buzz and acclaim were immediate. It was a gritty, real depiction of harrowing events and is what the Academy Awards typically enjoy. Jordan was repeatedly mentioned in the Best Actor category , though every current nominee’s film had yet to be released.
The logjam for Best Actor this year is probably the most competitive it has been in years, with only five spots to give out and Redford, Hanks, Phoenix getting shut out for the Best Actor nomination. Jordan had a very slim chance to get in. But had his film been released in December during awards season, the conversation may have a different perspective.
Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine had an early release date and wasn’t nominated as a film. But Cate Blanchett was and she is considered a favorite for Best Actress. The Butler, director Lee Daniels and actors Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker were all shut out. The Butler made over $100 million at the box office, was produced by Harvey Weinstein and was considered a Best Picture frontrunner when it was released. But it came out in August, and hasn’t been at the forefront of any Oscar push like American Hustle and others.
Last year was no different. The critically acclaimed Paul Thomas Anderson film The Master and Wes Anderson’s (no relation) Moonrise Kingdom had August and May release dates, respectively. Both were left out of the nine pictures nominated. While Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises were seen as simple summer blockbusters, even they deserved a shot at that 10th nominated film.
There is even a study in which it was determined that films released in December had more than double the chance to be nominated than those released in August or earlier.
Along with the early month snubbery, why even have the ability to nominate 10 films for Best Picture and only nominate nine? This is the third consecutive Oscars where the full 1o slots aren’t filled. I’m sure that the Academy could have found one decent movie out of the scores of choices to fill that slot this year, last year or the year before.
There is no correlation between Inside Llewyn Davis’s snub and its release date. Maybe the Academy decided that the Coen Brothers have enough awards and they could sit this year out. Other than that, The Butler, Fruitvale Station, Blue Jasmine, even the Book Thief, Lone Survivor or Saving Mr. Banks could have been considered to join the other nominees.
Hollywood’s champagne problem this Oscar calendar year is that there was an exorbitant amount of high-quality films, maybe the best year for film in recent memory. But the lack of representation from motion pictures released before October is ridiculous. A prestigious award can determine whether a film is monetarily successful or not. Even a nomination can drive interest to a work otherwise thought of as an art house or independent movie.
With the pattern formed by the all-important award shows of nominating primarily from October, November and December, it doesn’t make sense for a studio or production company to release its project that could be up for awards anytime but those months, making the oversaturation of award-bait films even worse for moviegoers.
Follow Jonathan Biles on Twitter @Jonathan_Biles
