With the latest round of Oscar nominations fast approaching, the year’s strongest awards contenders are rising to the surface:Licorice Pizza,Nightmare Alley,West Side Story. Despite another year impacted by the pandemic, there are plenty of heavy-hitters who could take home the gold.There aren’t a lot of industry insiders who are predicting thatF9orGodzilla vs. KongorShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringswill grab the Academy’s attention this year, because the Oscars tend to dismiss blockbusters. The Academy tends to favor small, prestigious arthouse movies over big, loud, action-packed, crowd-pleasing fare. The idea is that a movie whose existence is driven by a corporation’s need to expand its profit margins, like a Batman movie or aStar Warsmovie, can’t also be a thought-provoking work of art.RELATED:Harrison Ford Reads Brutal Studio Notes On ‘Blade Runner’ During OscarsBut the “art versus commerce” debate doesn’t really hold up, because all movies are both art and commerce to some degree. A prestigious Oscar winner likeThere Will Be Bloodis still a product being sold to audiences, just like an action-heavy blockbuster likeSpider-Man 2can still have thematic depth and emotional resonance. Some movies are more commerce than art, likeTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen, while others aremore art than commerce, likeEraserhead.
The Academy Doesn’t Always Ignore Blockbusters
Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige recently toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat his superhero blockbusters are “always at a deficit” when the awards season comes around, due to “a genre bias that certainly exists” within the Oscar-voting community. But the Academy hasn’t always been opposed to high-concept genre movies with a big fan following.
Some of the highest-grossing movies ever made have been nominated for Best Picture, and some of them have even won.Rocky,Titanic, andThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Kingall took home a boatload of money at the box office, then took home Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s rare, but sometimes the tastes of the average moviegoer and the average Oscar voter magically align.
Jaws Lost To One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Steven Spielberg’sJawsis widely regarded to be the first-ever blockbuster. After the thrilling tale of an everyman cop protecting his seaside town from a bloodthirsty great white shark became the highest-grossing movie ever made in 1975, every single studio wanted a high-concept actioner that they could release in the summer.
In addition to sinking its competition at the box office,Jawswas recognized by the Academy as one of the finest films of the year. It lost to Miloš Forman’sOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a sobering meditation on mental illness with one of the most chilling villains in movie history. Since then, fromRaiders of the Lost ArktoE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a handful of otherSpielberg-helmed blockbustershave been nominated for Best Picture.
Star Wars Lost To Annie Hall
AfterSpielberg’s shark thrillerbecame the first blockbuster, his friend George Lucas’ space operaStar Warssolidified high-concept genre franchises as Hollywood’s favorite currency. Industry experts – including the studio executives in charge of the film’s production – expected it to fail. And then, of course, the movie defied those expectations and became a global cultural phenomenon. It surpassedJawsfor the title of the highest-grossing movie of all time and changed the entire business by making speculative franchises the norm. The widespread influence ofStar Warscan still be felt almost half a century later.
The original 1977 movie, regardless of the “Special Edition” changes, is a timeless masterpiece whose fun, pulpy tone, riveting adventure story, and cast of colorful characters still captivate audiences to this day. It’s hardly surprising thatLucas’ game-changing gemwas nominated for Best Picture. Unfortunately, it lost out to Woody Allen’s fourth-wall-breaking romantic comedyAnnie Hall.
Avatar Lost To The Hurt Locker
AfterTitanicbecame the highest-grossing movie ever made and won Best Picture (and a bunch of other Oscars), James Cameron almost did it again with his eye-popping 3D sci-fi epicAvatar. Thanks to a bunch of exciting new filmmaking techniques used to immerse the audience in its sci-fi worlds,Avatarmanaged to attract enough ticket-buyers to topTitanicas the highest-grossing movie.
It was also nominated for Best Picture at the first Oscars ceremony in which the Academy expanded the category’s nominee count from the standard five. This move is believed to be a response toChristopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knightbeing snubbed in the previous year. However,Avatarlost toThe Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Cameron’s ex-wife.
Inception Lost To The King’s Speech
In between his second and third Batman movies, Christopher Nolan took a break to prove to audiences that non-franchise-related blockbusters could still exist withhis trippy dream-within-a-dream sci-fi epicInception. After becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of 2010,Inceptionwas nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but ultimately lost toThe King’s Speech.
It was a surprising move for the Academy to nominate a big sci-fi action movie, but Nolan’s dreamy opus was cinematic and thought-provoking enough to earn a spot among the other nominees. Despite being one of the most celebrated directors in the world, Nolan has yet to win Best Director (and he’s only beennominated once, forDunkirk), because his strengths as a filmmaker – tense cross-cutting, mind-bending sci-fi concepts, explosive IMAX action sequences – don’t exactly line up with what the Academy is looking for.
Black Panther Lost To Green Book
Although he’s been decrying the Academy’s “genre bias,” Feige himself was nominated for Best Picture back in 2018 forproducing Ryan Coogler’sBlack Panther. Coogler’s movie escaped the trappings of the MCU’s origin movies with powerful themes, mythical storytelling, and a surprisingly sympathetic villain.
It ended up losing the award toGreen Book, which proved to be a controversial move.Roma,The Favourite,BlacKkKlansman,A Star is Born, and indeedBlack Pantherwere all widely considered to be stronger movies thanGreen Book, which suffered from preachy, ham-fisted messaging. WhereasBlack Panthertackled colonialism from a Black perspective,Green Bookdealt with racism and segregation from a white perspective.
Will A Modern Blockbuster Ever Win Best Picture?
There’s been some Oscar discussion surrounding recent blockbusters. The immersive visuals and ambiguous themes of Denis Villeneuve’sDunehave earned it a place among this year’s Oscar contenders. And whileNo Time to Dieprobably won’t receive a Best Picture nod, there’s been some speculation thatDaniel Craig’s emotionally charged final performance as James Bondcould earn him the first Best Actor nomination in the franchise’s history.
It’s possible that blockbusters could prosper at post-pandemic awards shows. COVID sped up the slow, inevitable death of the kind of mid-range studio movie that the Academy usually nominates. All that will survive are giant tentpole blockbusters likeSpider-Man: No Way Homeand small movies that gradually build a fan base on various platforms throughout the year, likeBooksmart. Since the average Academy voter tends to miss sleeper hits likeBooksmart,Uncut Gems, andPortrait of a Lady on Fire, they might eventually be left with only blockbusters.
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