co-sign – what a fucking stupid, insulting and pathetically desperate change #Oscars @TheAcademy https://t.co/3WTGn4rhXe
— Manohla Dargis (@ManohlaDargis) August 8, 2018
I said there were a lot of feelings…
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Why the #Oscars decision to institute a “Best Popular Movie” award is the single most WTF decision the Academy has ever made https://t.co/gUkOYNvoFg pic.twitter.com/iwrv3UgrMH
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 8, 2018
…says Rolling Stone, a magazine covering an even more antiquated industry: music!
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Every single one of the “The #Oscars Popular Film Category is Bad” takes is 100% correct, but being true to my brand, my primary objection is that DEFINING POPULAR IS IMPOSSIBLE AND CREATES CATEGORY ANARCHY.
Like, I can’t get past the impracticality of this.
— Myles McNutt (@Memles) August 8, 2018
The left-brained among us…
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Can’t wait for the #Oscars to have the “Best Kiss” and “Best Movie Ship” nominees.
— Sergio-EL (@SergioEES) August 8, 2018
We ship it.
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Petition for the Academy to return to my childhood and award one of these timeless classics Best Popular Film #Oscars pic.twitter.com/bNVmPzMcbT
— Eugene Lee Yang (@EugeneLeeYang) August 8, 2018
Where do we sign the petition?
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So what are the Oscars updates?
I mean, yea sure the public and ABC have been screaming for updates for years now but are these the right ones?
1. The live telecast will be kept to three hours… of course this means
2. Not all awards will be telecast live, some will be given during commercial breaks (sorry foreign language films and sound editing)
3. The Academy “will create a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film” aka The Popcorn Oscar
4. The Oscars will move up into early February in 2020
Obviously The Academy is trying to combat #OscarsSoWhite, their low-ass ratings, and lots of mainstream blockbuster Hollywood films being left out in the cold. But is it too little too late? And what about all the amazing “popular” films that went before 2018? Will there be awards in retrospect for The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or perhaps Back to the Future or Star Wars? Or what about Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman that came out just last year in 2017? I guess we can’t cry over spilled popcorn but here are the 2018 films that should definitely be in the running for the “Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film” award:
1. Black Panther – really if this doesn’t win, there is no Oscar god.
2. The Avengers: Infinity War – “Mr Stark… I don’t wanna die…” * fades to dust * COME ON!!!
3. A Quiet Place – Parents will never be the same again
4. Deadpool 2 – The Oscars telecast needs a pair of Crocs, teen lesbians, and a potty mouth
And what about Ocean’s 8 (the highest grossing Ocean’s movie and the only with an all female cast), Mamma Mia, Jurassic World, or maybe the heart felt YA adaptation: Love, Simon. Now THAT is a Oscar we can get behind!
While everyone is freaking out about the status of the Oscars and the downfall of film snobbery in the light of this announcement, the exact specifics of the Popular Film awards are still to be revealed. We also don’t know which awards will be moved from the Live telecast, and how this will all really play out. So buckle up tight my little film spools, I’ll see you at the movies!
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Thoughts on the Academy announcement and the new award? Who should win the Popular Film award this year?
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Read the announcement at The Hollywood Reporter here.
