In March 2014, actor and speak present host Ellen DeGeneres hosted the 86th Academy Awards, or the Oscars, and clicked a selfie the place she posed with a few of the best-known actors on the planet: Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie et al. The picture turned the most retweeted picture in existence inside an hour of posting on Twitter, ultimately racking up over 3.four million retweets. The telecast on ABC drew in a mean of 43.7 million viewers over its length, changing into the second most-watched Oscars present in the 21st century (behind the 2000 ceremony).
For all the historical past remodeled a single night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the Oscars, and its contemporaries have had a tough decade since. Questions of equity, variety and illustration, not to point out falling viewership, have forged a shadow on the relevance of movie awards in the age of social media. TV rankings have continued to fall steadily, with the 2023 Oscars reaching solely 18.7 million viewers, lower than half of the 2014 excessive level. However, 2023 noticed audiences returning to cinema halls in a giant approach. This was as a lot a reversal of pandemic-era shortfalls because it was a results of advertising campaigns reminiscent of ‘Barbenheimer’ that promoted the yr’s greatest blockbusters — Barbie and Oppenheimer — as a double-bill.
This yr’s movie awards ceremonies, coming proper after the two massive Hollywood strikes final yr, have had to rethink their broadcast technique and keep up-to-date. The 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards, for example, was the first to stream dwell on Netflix. From the Golden Globes to the Emmys, they’re all shorter now. In each 2017 and 2018, the Oscars present was almost 4 hours lengthy. In latest years, this runtime has been trimmed by nearly 30 minutes. One workaround that helps scale back runtime is the pre-ceremony pink carpet present — the Oscars now have an hour-long pink carpet that diehard movie followers and celeb-watchers can tune into, whereas the extra time-strapped viewers can be a part of in when the most important ceremony begins. The Oscars have additionally taken the considerably controversial determination of excluding a bunch of technical awards from the most important ceremony — the winners obtain their awards privately earlier than the televised present begins.
Actors Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway revisit their 2006 movie, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards held final month.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
Changed audiences
The awards season in 2024 to date hasn’t been with out its share of drama. For occasion, the Golden Globes underwent a churn unprecedented in its historical past. Basically, the previous voting physique, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, was dissolved, and some of its new members threatened to withhold final-round votes as a result of they had been informed they wouldn’t be given tickets to the ceremony. A brand new Golden Globe for ‘Cinematic and Box Office Achievement’ was instated, with Barbie rising as the first-ever winner.
The BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards), in comparability, got here and went with nary a whimper — no upsets, not a lot drama, and alongside anticipated strains, Oppenheimer swept all the main awards, together with Best Film and Best Director. The British press swooned over Deepika Padukone’s pink carpet look (in a Sabyasachi sari), and for a bit, it felt like order was being restored to the awards season.
“Viewing habits have changed significantly over the last decade or so. Earlier, people would time their day’s routine to watch the live telecast of the film awards they followed. Now we’re seeing on our platform a lot of people who watch the awards the same day, but not during American hours,” explains Anushree Bhardwaj, Director (Marketing), Lionsgate Southeast Asia. Lionsgate Play holds unique dwell and streaming rights in India for the Emmys, Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and BAFTAs. “Viewers watch when it’s convenient for them, so I would say it is a combination of ‘appointment viewing’ and streaming-on-demand. The increased familiarity with American TV shows that streaming has brought about also helps.”
While there are a number of elements behind the reputation of any awards present, Bhardwaj says the involvement of Indian celebrities is a giant draw. “When we announced Deepika Padukone as one of the presenters at BAFTA this year, our engagement went through the roof,” she continues. “If you want to make your show more relevant to, say, Gen Z, you will have to involve the right celebrities for that demographic. Young people will have that connect with Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber, that folks from an earlier generation would have with Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts.”
(L to R) Singer-actor Selena Gomez, and actors Ryan Gosling and Deepika Padukone on the pink carpet at this yr’s movie awards.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
Newer award classes
The award classes themselves have additionally modified over the years. In 2001, the Oscars added the Best Animated Film class, which has confirmed to be a well-liked transfer in the years since.
A typical criticism of the Oscars is that they’re reluctant to honour mainstream blockbusters. To handle this, the Academy proposed including a Best Popular Film class in 2018 however the thought was “postponed” . Till date, the proposal hasn’t resurfaced. Earlier this month it was introduced that from 2026, the Oscars will add a brand new award for achievement in casting. Lobbying efforts are underway to honour stunt coordinators as effectively, with John Wick director Chad Stahelski amongst the outstanding voices throwing their weight behind the thought.
A significant attraction for TV audiences are the performances. I bear in mind when, in 2009, it was first reported that musician A.R. Rahman would carry out at the Oscars, there was plenty of buzz in the Indian media. You may inform that Indian viewers had been ready to watch the present only for Rahman (moreover rooting for Slumdog Millionaire).
That was the period, in fact, when “appointment viewing”, i.e. lots of individuals watching one thing at the very same time, was nonetheless a factor. Oscar diehards nonetheless speak about Hugh Jackman’s excellent musical quantity from that yr as a result of it actually was TV gold — celebrities taking part in the idiot and parodying themselves. And the Academy does recognise the sway star performances maintain; it was reported earlier this week that after a number of rounds of negotiations, Ryan Gosling had agreed to carry out ‘I’m Just Ken’ from Barbie at this yr’s Oscars.
The director and most important forged of ‘Poor Things’ at the Golden Globe Awards in January.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
The variety technique
Another main shift in the approach movie awards conduct their enterprise has been in the push for variety. Last December, the Golden Globes reported a revamping of their voter base with 47% feminine and 60% racially/ethnically non-white members. Non-English movies can now compete for Best Drama, with Anatomy of a Fall (French) and Past Lives (Korean) making the reduce this yr.
Back in 2020, the Oscars launched a 1,000-page memo that underlined their new inclusion requirements for Best Picture hopefuls: in order to be eligible, that they had to fulfil two out of 4 broad standards teams. For occasion, the eligibility commonplace round technical workers says, ‘At least two of the following creative leadership positions and department heads — Casting Director, Cinematographer, Composer… Writer — are from an under-represented group and at least one of those positions must belong to someone from an under-represented racial or ethnic group.’
It’s debatable whether or not these methods will instantly translate to a bigger viewers pool, nevertheless it shows no less than that the Academy is listening to criticism of its strategies. The similar may very well be mentioned of the Golden Globes, Emmys or BAFTAs. Practically each awards present now engages social media influencers to conduct pink carpet interviews and promote the elaborate affair to youthful audiences globally. The SAG Awards had style skilled Tan France interview winners backstage, and successful speeches weren’t reduce quick.
Come March 11, the Oscars will get one other shot at redeeming themselves. Will Oppenheimer sweep the night time once more or will vital darlings reminiscent of The Holdovers or The Zone of Interest scoop up the prime awards? With her standout efficiency in Killers of the Flower Moon, will Best Actress nominee Lily Gladstone turn out to be the first Native American to win an Oscar? While it’s enjoyable to speculate about questions like these, the perceived unfairness/ incompetence of Oscar voters isn’t actually why the TV rankings have fallen in latest years. The actual purpose is a mixture of adjusting demographics, waning celebrity-power and a reluctance on the Academy’s half to rework with time. Luckily, steps are being taken to handle these points, with the hope that folks return to the good ol’ days after they’d organize their lives round a Globes or Oscars TV broadcast.
The author and journalist is engaged on his first ebook of non-fiction.