"Best Picture" contenders will now have to play more theaters!

Extremely exciting if ‘too little too late?’ news from the Academy this week. Best Picture contenders will be required to play in multiple markets starting in 2024. Longtime readers will note that we’ve been complaining about how easy it is to qualify for the Oscars for the entire lifespan of the site. The Academy has stated over and over again that they believe in the moviegoing experience and yet they have perpetually encouraged  the “one week only in a tiny theater” practice of competing without actually being available to 95% of people who might be interested. Long before the streaming wars made things a lot fuzzier the Academy wasw rewarding this audience-unfriendly practice. We’ve seen the slow erosion of interest in the Oscars from the moviegoing public over the years and it’s hard not to assume that the two things are related. 

Finally the Academy has decided that distributors need to make more of an effort. So now Oscar hopefuls will be required to commit to a theatrical expansion in at least 10 of the top 50 markets within 45 days of their initial release (a couple of those markets can be international)... 

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A Marilyn Monroe Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

In June, we don't just celebrate Pride. For those in the know, it's also the time to honor the immortal memory of Marilyn Monroe, born in the dying breaths of spring, June 1926. As a birthday present to her fans, the Criterion Channel organized a sampling of the actress' best films, making a delicious collection everyone should check out. Inspired by that list, here's my own selection of Marilyn's peak, her ten most excellent performances in a career, a life, cut tragically short. After all, one mustn't confuse the iconographic impact with a lack of substance beyond the surface. Too many have done that already. 

Marilyn Monroe was a tremendous thespian, so seamless that people, in her time and our own, still assume character and interpreter were one and the same. In any case, let's forego defensiveness for joyful exultation. Without further ado, here's the Marilyn Monroe top ten, in chronological order, unranked…

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First & Last 009

Can you guess the movie from its first and last shot? This one is ironically for Pride month.

The answer is after the jump when you scroll down...

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Box Office: "The Flash" wasn't worth the wait?

By Nathaniel R

We live in strange box office times. Hollywood (and the media) got high on the supply of Marvel's Avengers 2010s run and thought the grosses and interest for each and every superhero film / franchise would grow forever. That hasnt been the case and genre is coming back down to earth... not crashing exactly but bumpy landings. Warner Bros/DC's The Flash was held for a long time due to numerous issues. Despite all the issues the buzz was fairly good on its quality. But now that it's finally here the reception is a bit of a shrug despite its easy #1 finish. After years of downplaying the importance of Pixar in their portfolio, Disney had trouble bringing Elementals in at previous numbers.

In limited release things were much brighter... 

Weekend Box Office (actuals) June 16th-18th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (Over 800 Screens)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
THE FLASH	ASTEROID CITY

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Queering the Oscars: Best Original Screenplay "Far From Heaven"

by Patrick Ball

It certainly isn’t a stretch to consider any Todd Haynes filmography part of the Queer Oscar Canon. The filmmaker brought us La Blanchett in the all-timer Carol and as a gender-bent Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. He directed Laura Dern and Kate Winslet on the small screen in prestige HBO offerings Enlightened and Mildred Pierce (respectively). And I know I’m not alone in my extreme anticipation for his forthcoming May/December, his third collaboration with primary muse Julianne Moore. If the proverbial Dorothy is 'a great actress or queer icon of her generation' than the man is a *friend* of Dorothy. But my favorite, and an early example of how a queer perspective permeates through his style, enriching the work, is Far From Heaven. 

Far From Heaven, a juggernaut on the 2002 Critics Circuit, eventually was nominated for four Academy Awards- including one for Haynes’ himself for Best Original Screenplay. Though it didn’t take home any trophies that night (in an intensely competitive and notorious Oscar race), Far From Heaven was considered a breakthrough for Haynes as a filmmaker...

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