For the concerns in some quarters that Birdman might be too cerebral or idiosyncratic for Oscar, I offer thisfoolproof rebuttal: It's about the theater!
Oscar has a long history of mad love for theater movies from early musicals which were often about vaudeville through biopics about theater giants and on to today's more playful genre hybrids. Even when the Academy doesn't fully commit to its latest greasepaint and footlights suitor, it will often give him a quick kiss in the form of a nomination or three. Some examples: To Be Or Not To Be (1942 & 1983), Being Julia (2004), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), The Producers (1967), 42nd Street (1934), and The Bandwagon (1953). While it's true there are exceptions that they completely ignore (Stage Beauty, Waiting for Guffman, Opening Night) it's a subject matter that appeals to showbiz people and showbiz people like congratulating their own.
OSCAR'S 10 FAVORITE THEATER MOVIES
Why didn't you include Cabaret, Black Swan or Chicago in this list?: I opted not to include films about cabaret, ballet, opera, etcetera but events more traditionally associated with "the theater" like plays, musicals, revues. I opted not to include Chicago since the vaudevillian references are atmosphere but not really related to the story as told but the story before the story and briefly after it if you will though there's definitely a case for including it. If you do include it it's #3 in this list with 13 nominations and 6 wins.
Honorable Mention: Best Foreign Language Film Winners with a theatrical bent include Hungary's MEPHISTO (1981) and Spain's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (1999)
Runners Up: The all star actressfest known as STAGE DOOR (1937), discussed earlier this year, received 4 nominations including Best Picture & Mike Leigh's exquisite TOPSY-TURVY (1999) took 4 nominations and a win. And just barely missing the list is THE DRESSER (1983) with 5 nominations including Best Picture. While The Dresser seems to have been all but forgotten (was it not readily available enough for home viewing?) Oscar really went for it this intimate relationship drama at time including a double lead actor nomination (the second to last of its kind - Amadeus closed out the practice for men the following year and category fraud began to run rampant) for Tom Courtenay as the dresser and Albert Finney as the theater star he works for during a production of King Lear.
10 STAR! (1968) 7 nominations
Though this notorious flop, recently discussed in our celebration of Robert Wise's centennial, ended Julie Andrews time as the #1 box office star in the world, The Academy responded with much greater initial enthusiasm than the public to this super long critically massacred biopic about stage star Gertrud Lawrence.
nine more encores after the jump...
09 BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994) 7 nominations | 1 win
Woody Allen's last major Oscar play before the drought that ended with Midnight in Paris (2011), and one of his all time funniest movies featured a group of thespians in rehearsals for a stuffy play "Gods of Our Fathers" written clunkily by Woody proxy John Cusack until the ganster-with-a-gift Chaz Palminterri rewrites to major success. Given its robust nomination tallly, one assumes Bullets just barely lost its Best Picture nomination to Four Weddings and a Funeral, which had one of the lowest Best Picture nomination tallies of all time (prior to the expansion of the category) with only one other nod for Original Screenplay, where it competed directly with Bullets. Both of them lost in that category to Pulp Fiction.
08 FINDING NEVERLAND (2004) 7 nominations including Best Picture | 1 win
I was trying to justify leaving this off the list but had to be honest since there are a few theater scenes and it is at least partially about the creation of the legendary play Peter Pan. But given what else 2004 had to offer it was an embarrassing Oscar crush.
07 THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) 7 nominations | 3 wins including Best Picture
Surely one of the most maligned of early Oscar wins, this biopic of Florenz Ziegfeld is way too long and doesn't hold a candle to some other nominees that year including the devastasting Dodsworth and the classic screwball My Man Godfrey which somehow missed a Picture nomination despite plentiful Oscar love. But that said Best Actress winner Luise Rainer is a delight, William Powell is William Powell (not complaining) and you can see a rather electric singing cameo by Fanny Brice. Speaking of whom...
06 FUNNY GIRL (1968) 8 nominations including Best Picture | 1 win
Fanny Brice would later be interpreted by Barbra Streisand to a Best Actress win and several other Oscar nods. Funny Girl is a weirdly bifurcated affair, the first half being utterly perfect and the second sloggy, but it's practically the definitive example of a Star Vehicle so it earns its place in history.
05 MOULIN ROUGE! (2001) 8 nominations including Best Picture | 2 wins
Nicole Kidman, the whore with the heart for gold, wants to go legit by becoming "a real actress" in this wildly beloved new classic that will always hold a special place in our hearts for its part in the evolution of The Film Experience to a destination site for movie fans. Since Moulin Rouge! is so jam-packed with everything it's easy to forget that it is totally a theater movie, since a good deal of the plot revolves around the converting of the titular dance hall into a grand theater for the production of the "Spectacular! Spectacular!" musical. That musical also functions as the climax during its first and sadly only performance.
04 YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) 8 nominations including Best Picture | 3 wins
An early example of "playing against type" to win Oscar gold since James Cagney, best known for playing nasty fellows, won his Oscar for a smiling song & dance man in this biopic about playwright and performer George M Cohan
03 ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) 9 nominations including Best Picture | 4 wins
"it's showtime, folks". From its very first audition sequence which reeks of authenticity to its gonzo funereal farewell which is all fantastical, All That Jazz is a miracle movie. It's heavily inspired by Federico Fellini's 8½ with a new stage musical taking the place of that earlier movie's new film from an egomaniacal director looking back at his life... but it's somehow a one of a kind picture despite their similarities. 1979 was an incredible Oscar year (see also Kramer vs. Kramer and Apocalypse Now) but it still managed to win 4 statues including the much deserved editing trophy.
02 SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) 13 nominations | 7 wins including Best Picture
Another maligned winner - only this one deserves a far better reputation because, put bluntly, it's better than the more generic movie everyone bitched about it triumphing over. But this is a comedy and that one is a drama so people freaked out (it isn't just Oscar that's anti-comedy when it comes to naming things "Best"... it's also audiences. This Tom Stoppard scripted romance was a huge hit with the acting branch and one of very few "light" pictures to win the top prize.
01 ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) 14 nominations (previously discussed) | 6 wins including Best Picture
One of the greatest movies about showbiz. Scratch that. One of the greatest movies, full stop. Bette Davis is a grande dame theater diva being usurped (i.e. replaced) by a younger hungrier rival. It's about the theater but it's so good it could double for any wing of showbusiness simply by changing the setting.