The Oscars’ fan-favorite award explained: No, it’s not a real Oscar

Should you’re tuning in to tonight’s Academy Awards, you’ll see numerous belongings you’ve by no means seen on the telecast earlier than: Three hosts. Eight classes awarded exterior of the stay broadcast. And the introduction for the primary time in Oscars historical past of a fan-favorite award.

What’s a fan-favorite award, you ask? Allow us to clarify.

Is that this a brand new Oscar?

No, it’s not an precise Oscar, nevertheless it is new.

In February, the movement image academy introduced that, for the primary time, Twitter customers would be capable of vote on their favourite film of 2021, no matter whether or not it acquired an Oscar nomination. The movie that earns essentially the most votes can be acknowledged throughout the telecast.

The academy additionally requested Twitter customers to submit their all-time favourite film moments that spurred audiences to burst into cheers in theaters, utilizing the hashtag #OscarsCheerMoment. Successful scenes can be showcased throughout the present.

Why is the academy doing this?

The movie academy has lengthy cultivated its air of exclusivity however, with scores for the Oscars plummeting to an all-time low in 2021, the group’s leaders and ABC executives are determined to search out new methods to broaden the viewers for the present this yr.

“The theme of the present is ‘Film Lovers Unite,’ and by that, I imply film lovers of all stripes,” this yr’s first-time Oscars producer, Will Packer, instructed The Occasions earlier this month. “I’m excited in regards to the alternative to have that sort of a fan voice, which usually shouldn’t be on a present like this.”

This isn’t the primary time this type of populist award has been proposed. In 2018, the academy introduced the creation of a brand new class for “greatest fashionable movie,” solely to scrap the thought lower than a month later after a backlash from critics who argued {that a} particular Oscar recognizing blockbusters would diminish the importance of the awards as an entire.

How will the winner of this award be decided?

From Feb. 14, when the award was introduced, to March 3, when voting closed, anybody was allowed to vote by way of Twitter, or by way of the competition’s official web site, as much as 20 instances per day for his or her favourite movie launched final yr.

So as to add an additional incentive, the academy introduced that 5 viewers members who participate in voting will obtain a “For Film Lovers Solely” prize pack, together with tickets for a full yr of free motion pictures of their alternative of theater, streaming subscriptions and unique objects from the Academy Museum Retailer.

Three Twitter customers who participated within the contest can be randomly chosen to win an all-expenses-paid journey to Los Angeles to current an Oscar on the 2023 ceremony.

What is anticipated to win?

In creating the award, the academy could have hoped to offer a highlight to the previous yr’s greatest blockbuster, “Spider-Man: No Manner Dwelling,” which didn’t rating any Oscar nominations past a single visible results nod. However from the second the fan-favorite award was introduced, a few of filmdom’s most passionate followers started flooding Twitter, unleashing the type of chaos for which the Web is notorious and skewing the leads to unpredictable instructions.

In accordance with a leaderboard the academy revealed a number of days earlier than voting ended, the highest 10 vote-getters at that time included six movies one would possibly count on — and that the academy can get behind to 1 diploma or one other: greatest image nominees “Dune” and “The Energy of the Canine,” the animated sequel “Sing 2,” comic-book hit “The Suicide Squad,” the Lin-Manuel Miranda-directed Netflix musical “Tick, Tick … Increase!” and, sure, “Spider-Man: No Manner Dwelling.”

The opposite 4 front-runners, although, have been movies that, regardless of their ardent supporters, acquired usually blended to detrimental opinions and that would have some within the Dolby Theatre cringing ought to they win: Netflix’s Zack Snyder-directed “Military of the Useless,” Amazon Prime Video’s “Cinderella,” the gonzo horror movie “Malignant” and the little-seen Johnny Depp movie “Minamata.”

What has been the response to this award from academy members and cineastes?

Maybe not surprisingly, many academy members have criticized the thought of bringing a brand new fan award to the Oscars, notably as eight awards recognizing important movie crafts are concurrently being shifted out of the stay telecast. “Does the academy not get how a lot this pisses off their members and filmmakers?” one longtime academy member stated to The Occasions final month after the adjustments have been introduced.

And for some movie lovers who make up the Oscars’ core viewers, the gambit smacks of pandering. “The holy grail of the Oscars has develop into this imaginary ABC viewer who’s eagerly ready for there to be fewer awards, no outdated individuals, no artsy motion pictures, a super-fast tempo and Spider-Man,” movie journalist and writer Mark Harris wrote on Twitter final month. “And I assume the Academy goes to chase that mirage proper over the sting of a cliff.”

However Packer hopes the skeptics will give the award an opportunity. “There’s a number of misinformation on the market about that, like, ‘Oh, my God, there’s an Oscar that they’re making a gift of on Twitter and the particular person with the 7,000th tweet will give it away onstage subsequent to Meryl Streep,’” he stated. “That’s simply not the situation. It’s not what’s occurring.

“To have [the fan-favorite award] on the present takes nothing away from individuals who have cherished ‘CODA’ and ‘Belfast’ and all the opposite motion pictures,” Packer continued. “So long as you’re speaking about cinema, the love of flicks, and you retain your viewers centered in that dialog — that, to me, is how you need to be making the present.”