Entries in Oscar Trivia (677)
Release date shuffle. The backloading begins with "Boy Erased" and "On the Basis of Sex"
Monday, July 2, 2018 at 4:16PM by Nathaniel R
Ah.... statue lust. It invariably shoves everything into the last two months of the year. This just in: Focus has pushed back both of its key contenders this year: Boy Erased, the gay conversion drama, is moving the beginning of its platform release from September 28th until November 2nd and On the Basis of Sex, the biopic on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is moving its limited launch from November 9th until December 25th. Though pushing back a little seems kind of wise for On the Basis of Sex (put a little distance between yourself and RBG) Christmas seems like a step too far. Or is that just me?
We expect a few more Oscar contenders to push back into December. Why? Well, despite statistics being in favor of releasing in October or November if you'd like to win e-- The Shape of Water (2017) was actually the first Best Picture winner to begin its release in December since Million Dollar Baby (2004) -- common beliefs are hard to shake and Hollywood has long viewed a December berth as the be-all and end-all of awards strategies. There is a good reason for that though we hate to admit it: despite December being tough for Best Picture wins in the modern era (momentum needed!) it is and basically always has been easier to get nominations if you release in December. Try to imagine, say, The Post, being nominated last year had it come out in September. It doesn't happen. But in December it had so much pre-release hype as an assumed frontrunner that it was able to weather lukewarm precursor attention and snag the nod.
Wings (1927) the first best picture winner. It still holds up. For fun here's a list of when every Best Picture ever first opened in theaters excluding festival debuts obviously. (Some of the dates are a bit fuzzy, of course, that's especially true for ye olden times when listings are harder to come by and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between event premieres and the actual beginning of a platform release...
1994's Unsatisfying Best Actress Race
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at 5:09PM 1994 was our year of the month for June so before the month closes, a couple of more forays into that year. Here's Nathaniel R responding to a reader request during the Supporting Actress Smackdown to discuss the actual leading nominees.
It's an age old question and the answer is (nearly) always the same.
Q: What happens when all the best stuff in a film year is within genres Oscar doesn't care for?
A: The Academy sticks to their traditional loves even if it means providing history with a weak shortlist that they'll judge harshly!
Some recent years have suggested that Oscar is loosening up in this regard. The swell of new members might be helping along with the increased visibility of critical passion (the plethora of precursor awards constantly saying "but this is great! won't you please look at it?" seems to have shifted Oscar voters a bit more towards critical passion and away from "Oscar Bait"). But overall they stick to what they love (dramas, message movies, epics, biopics, etcetera). This is especially true of the Acting branch which rarely met a teary face it didn't fall for and continually sticks up its nose at laughing or screaming or unusual faces given their aversion to comic genius, horror films, and auteur experimental or sci-fi/fantasy work. Which brings us to 1994's BEST ACTRESS LIST...
What will Israel submit to the Oscars?
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 5:00PM by Nathaniel
Flawless, which is called "The Prom" at home stars Stav Strashko (the one behind the wheel) who is a trans actress
The Ophir nominations were recently announced in Israel and we thought we'd share their Best Picture nominees. The winner of the Ophir -- which will be announced September 6th -- is almost always submitted for the Oscar's Foreign Language Film category. There are two LGBTQ films in the mix this year. Thanks to our loyal Israeli reader Yonatan for alerting us to the nominees. They're after the jump along with some stats about Israel's history with the Oscars and in US arthouse movie theaters...
Welcome the Academy's Class of 2018!
Monday, June 25, 2018 at 8:00PM 
Chris here. It's that time of year again for Oscar to welcome its new members into the fold. And the class of 2018 is the largest batch of inductees ever: 928, ahead of last year's previous record of 774. Among the names you will find last year's nominees like Daniel Kaluuya, Timothée Chalamet, and The Big Sick's creative duo Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, as well as beloved folks awaiting that first nomination like Melanie Lynskey, Sean Baker, and Ann Dowd.
These invitees (remember, some people do decline to join) show further attempt to diversify the ranks of the Academy across all categories. Should all accept, the Academy membership for women and people of color will both increase towards last year's goal to double both by 2020. One exciting stat is that 9 branches feature more female invitees than male, including actors, documentary, and producers.
The full list is after the jump, so do share the names you are most excited to see! Here's the cast of Big Little Lies adorably celebrating Zoë Kravitz's invitation to kick off the excitement (but there's tons more adorable well-wishing on The Academy's Twitter page):
The cast of #BigLittleLies welcomes the our newest member invitees —including @ZoeKravitz—to the Academy. #WeAreTheAcademy pic.twitter.com/qooOqsnyTk
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) June 25, 2018