Predict the 2017 Oscars (March 2018)

[Doctor Q]

Last year, after the envelopegate incident, host Jimmy Kimmel ended the Oscar telecast with "I promise I'll never come back." Well, guess what - he's returning as host!

At the 90th annual Academy Awards (Oscars) on Sunday, March 4, 2018 we'll learn the winners for the best movies of 2017.

Films with the most nominations:

13 for The Shape of Water
8 for Dunkirk
7 for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
6 each for Darkest Hour and Phantom Thread
5 each for Blade Runner 2049 and Lady Bird
4 for Call Me by Your Name and Get Out and Mudbound and Star Wars: The Last Jedi​

Hmmm... shouldn't Blade Runner 2049 be nominated in 2050?

This thread is for our annual prediction contest. Maybe we'll give out gold, silver, and bronze medals this time.


MacRumors Oscar Contest

This is the 16th annual MacRumors Oscar Contest. This year there are 122 nominations for 59 movies in 24 categories. The forum contestant with the most correct predictions wins the traditional prize: MacRumors bragging rights.

Here's how to vote:

• Copy the ballot from the next post below.
• Delete all but one line in each category, leaving 1 choice per category (your prediction).
• Post it in this thread.

Contest rules:

• Post between now and 6:00pm Eastern time Sunday.
• Do not edit your post after voting.
• One ballot per person.

You need not vote in every category but there's no penalty for guessing. Good luck!

Previous MacRumors "Predict the Oscars" contests:

2016: winner swiftaw (18 correct)
2015: winners dejo, DoctorQ, and swiftaw (17 correct)
2014: winner Doctor Q (20 correct)
2013: winners dejo and Doctor Q and swiftaw (21 correct)
2012: winner swiftaw (19 correct)
2011: winner swiftaw (19 correct)
2010: winner Doctor Q (18 correct)
2009: winner Doctor Q (16 correct)
2008: winner Doctor Q (20 correct)
2007: winners NEENAHBOY and Doctor Q (13 correct)
2006: winner Doctor Q (15 correct)
2005: winner Doctor Q (18 correct)
2004: winners VincentVega and Pittsax (16 correct)
2003: winners wdlove and Doctor Q (20 correct)
2002: winner Doctor Q (13 correct)​

 

[Doctor Q]

--- MacRumors Oscar Ballot ---

Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet for Call Me by Your Name
Best Actor: Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour
Best Actor: Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for Phantom Thread
Best Actor: Denzel Washington for Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Best Actress: Margot Robbie for I, Tonya
Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird
Best Actress: Meryl Streep for The Post
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water
Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory for Call Me by Your Name
Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for The Disaster Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green for Logan
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for Molly's Game
Best Adapted Screenplay: Virgil Williams and Dee Rees for Mudbound

Best Animated Feature Film: Tom McGrath and Ramsey Naito for The Boss Baby
Best Animated Feature Film: Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo for The Breadwinner
Best Animated Feature Film: Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson for Coco
Best Animated Feature Film: Carlos Saldanha for Ferdinand
Best Animated Feature Film: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, and Ivan Mactaggart for Loving Vincent

Best Animated Short Film: Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant for Dear Basketball
Best Animated Short Film: Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon for Garden Party
Best Animated Short Film: Dave Mullins and Dana Murray for Lou
Best Animated Short Film: Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata for Negative Space
Best Animated Short Film: Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer for Revolting Rhymes

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049
Best Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel for Darkest Hour
Best Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema for Dunkirk
Best Cinematography: Rachel Morrison for Mudbound
Best Cinematography: Dan Lautsen for The Shape of Water

Best Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran for Beauty and the Beast
Best Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran for Darkest Hour
Best Costume Design: Mark Bridges for Phantom Thread
Best Costume Design: Luis Sequeira for The Shape of Water
Best Costume Design: Consolata Boyle for Victoria & Abdul

Best Director: Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk
Best Director: Jordan Peele for Get Out
Best Director: Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson for Phantom Thread
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water

Best Documentary Feature: Steve James, Mark Mitten, and Julie Goldman for Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Best Documentary Feature: Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda for Faces Places
Best Documentary Feature: Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan for Icarus
Best Documentary Feature: Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, and Søren Steen Jespersen for Last Men in Aleppo
Best Documentary Feature: Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes for Strong Island

Best Documentary Short Subject: Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wright for Edith+Eddie
Best Documentary Short Subject: Frank Stiefel for Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Best Documentary Short Subject: Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon for Heroin(e)
Best Documentary Short Subject: Thomas Lennon for Knife Skills
Best Documentary Short Subject: Kate Davis and David Heilbroner for Traffic Stop

Best Film Editing: Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos for Baby Driver
Best Film Editing: Lee Smith for Dunkirk
Best Film Editing: Tatiana S. Riegel for I, Tonya
Best Film Editing: Sidney Wolinsky for The Shape of Water
Best Film Editing: Jon Gregory for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Foreign Language Film: Sebastián Lelio for A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
Best Foreign Language Film: Ziad Doueiri for The Insult (Lebanon)
Best Foreign Language Film: Andrey Zvyagintsev for Loveless (Russia)
Best Foreign Language Film: Ildikó Enyedi for On Body and Soul (Hungary)
Best Foreign Language Film: Ruben Östlund for The Square (Sweden)

Best Live Action Short Film: Reed Van Dyk for DeKalb Elementary
Best Live Action Short Film: Derin Seale and Josh Lawson for The Eleven O'Clock
Best Live Action Short Film: Kevin Wilson, Jr. for My Nephew Emmett
Best Live Action Short Film: Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton for The Silent Child
Best Live Action Short Film: Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen for Watu Wote/All of Us

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, and Lucy Sibbick for Darkest Hour
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard for Victoria & Abdul
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Arjen Tuiten for Wonder

Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer for Dunkirk
Best Original Score: Jonny Greenwood for Phantom Thread
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The Shape of Water
Best Original Score: John Williams for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Original Score: Carter Burwell for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Screenplay: Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani for The Big Sick
Best Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele for Get Out
Best Original Screenplay: Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
Best Original Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor for The Shape of Water
Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Song: Sufjan Stevens for "Mystery of Love" in Call Me by Your Name
Best Original Song: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for "Remember Me" in Coco
Best Original Song: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for "This is Me" in The Greatest Showman
Best Original Song: Diane Warren and Lonnie R. Lynn for "Stand Up for Something" in Marshall
Best Original Song: Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson for "Mighty River in Mudbound

Best Picture: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, and Marco Morabito for Call Me by Your Name
Best Picture: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten, and Douglas Urbanski for Darkest Hour
Best Picture: Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk
Best Picture: Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., and Jordan Peele for Get Out
Best Picture: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, and Evelyn O'Neill for Lady Bird
Best Picture: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison, and Daniel Lupi for Phantom Thread
Best Picture: Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg, and Kristie Macosko Krieger for The Post
Best Picture: Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale for The Shape of Water
Best Picture: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Martin McDonagh for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Production Design: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer for Beauty and the Beast
Best Production Design: Dennis Gassner and Alessandra Querzola for Blade Runner 2049
Best Production Design: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer for Darkest Hour
Best Production Design: Nathan Crowley and Gary Fettis for Dunkirk
Best Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, and Jeff Melvin for The Shape of Water

Best Sound Editing: Julian Slater for Baby Driver
Best Sound Editing: Mark Mangini and Theo Green for Blade Runner 2049
Best Sound Editing: Richard King and Alex Gibson for Dunkirk
Best Sound Editing: Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira for The Shape of Water
Best Sound Editing: Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing: Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin, and Mary H. Ellis for Baby Driver
Best Sound Mixing: Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, and Mac Ruth for Blade Runner 2049
Best Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, and Gary A. Rizzo for Dunkirk
Best Sound Mixing: Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern, and Glen Gauthier for The Shape of Water
Best Sound Mixing: David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Stuart Wilson for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer for All the Money in the World
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe for The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actor: Richard Jenkins for The Shape of Water
Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney for I, Tonya
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird
Best Supporting Actress: Mary J. Blige for Mudbound
Best Supporting Actress: Lesley Manville for Phantom Thread
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer for The Shape of Water

Best Visual Effects: John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover for Blade Runner 2049
Best Visual Effects: Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Best Visual Effects: Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, and Mike Meinardus for Kong: Skull Island
Best Visual Effects: Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, and Joel Whist for War for the Planet of the Apes

 

[swiftaw]

Best Actor: Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour

Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory for Call Me by Your Name

Best Animated Feature Film: Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson for Coco

Best Animated Short Film: Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant for Dear Basketball

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049

Best Costume Design: Mark Bridges for Phantom Thread

Best Director: Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water

Best Documentary Feature: Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda for Faces Places

Best Documentary Short Subject: Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon for Heroin(e)

Best Film Editing: Lee Smith for Dunkirk

Best Foreign Language Film: Sebastián Lelio for A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

Best Live Action Short Film: Reed Van Dyk for DeKalb Elementary

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, and Lucy Sibbick for Darkest Hour

Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The Shape of Water

Best Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele for Get Out

Best Original Song: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for "Remember Me" in Coco

Best Picture: Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale for The Shape of Water

Best Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, and Jeff Melvin for The Shape of Water

Best Sound Editing: Richard King and Alex Gibson for Dunkirk

Best Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, and Gary A. Rizzo for Dunkirk

Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney for I, Tonya

Best Visual Effects: John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover for Blade Runner 2049

 

[JamesMike]

#2
--- MacRumors Oscar Ballot ---


Best Actor: Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour


Best Actress: Meryl Streep for The Post


Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for Molly's Game


Best Animated Feature Film: Carlos Saldanha for Ferdinand



Best Animated Short Film: Dave Mullins and Dana Murray for Lou


Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049




Best Costume Design: Consolata Boyle for Victoria & Abdul

Best Director: Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk



Best Documentary Feature: Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, and Søren Steen Jespersen for Last Men in Aleppo


Best Documentary Short Subject: Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon for Heroi
Best Film Editing: Lee Smith for Dunkirk

Best Foreign Language Film: Ruben Östlund for The Square (Sweden)


Best Live Action Short Film: Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen for Watu Wote/All of Us


Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard for Victoria & Abdul


Best Original Score: John Williams for Star Wars: The Last Jedi



Best Original Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor for The Shape of Water


Best Original Song: Sufjan Stevens for "Mystery of Love" in Call Me by Your Name



Best Picture: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten, and Douglas Urbanski for Darkest Hour



Best Production Design: Dennis Gassner and Alessandra Querzola for Blade Runner 2049


Best Sound Editing: Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, and Gary A. Rizzo for Dunkirk



Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe for The Florida Project


Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer for The Shape of Water

Best Visual Effects: Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

[Doctor Q]

After a marathon of movie-watching, Mrs. Q and I have seen 41 out of the 59 nominated movies. That's a record for us. Out of 122 nominations we've seen the movie for 102. We've seen all of the nominated film in more than half of the categories. We finished watching Baby Driver just an hour ago.

Movies I ended up seeing twice: Heroin(e), by accident, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, on purpose.

The movies that impressed me most this year: Coco, Loving Vincent, and Baby Driver. But that doesn't mean that the academy will vote for them. Personally, I was bored stiff watching Dunkirk. An important story but one that's been covered so many times before, and with more interest. I hope the quirky Baby Driver beats the mainstream Dunkirk for Film and Sound Editing and for Sound Mixing, but I'll be surprised if it does.

I'm going with Three Billboards for Best Picture. It had the magic combination of acting, story, and score.

Best Actor: Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour
Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory for Call Me by Your Name
Best Animated Feature Film: Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson for Coco
Best Animated Short Film: Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant for Dear Basketball
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049
Best Costume Design: Mark Bridges for Phantom Thread
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water
Best Documentary Feature: Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda for Faces Places
Best Documentary Short Subject: Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wright for Edith+Eddie
Best Film Editing: Lee Smith for Dunkirk
Best Foreign Language Film: Sebastián Lelio for A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
Best Live Action Short Film: Reed Van Dyk for DeKalb Elementary
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, and Lucy Sibbick for Darkest Hour
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The Shape of Water
Best Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele for Get Out
Best Original Song: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for "Remember Me" in Coco
Best Picture: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Martin McDonagh for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, and Jeff Melvin for The Shape of Water
Best Sound Editing: Richard King and Alex Gibson for Dunkirk
Best Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, and Gary A. Rizzo for Dunkirk
Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney for I, Tonya
Best Visual Effects: John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover for Blade Runner 2049

 

[Krayzkat]

I vote for Dunkirk for most annoying ‘suspense’ music

 

[Huntn]

I vote for Dunkirk for most annoying ‘suspense’ music

Dunkirk, TLJ, and BladeRunner are the 3 BP movies I’ve seen. So I don’t know enough to offer an informed prediction, but of these 3, Blade Runner was the best, TLJ the worst, and Dunkirk was annoying mostly cause of 1 hr, 46 min of annoying tense music and not an inspired telling of the story.

 

[ejb190]

Well, I was going to enter, but a) I'm late and b) I, unlike Doctor Q's phenomenal record, have seen three nominated films accounting for 6 nominations. And for the first time in a long time, I have not seen any of the nominated animated movies. Dismal year for me and movies!

 

[Doctor Q]

Contest results

swiftaw is our gold medal contest winner, with 21 correct out of 24, missing only Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Live Action Short Film.

Doctor Q wins the silver medal with 20 out of 24, missing the same three plus Best Picture.

JamesMike wins bronze for his predictions, a not-too-shabby 15 out of 24.

Mrs. Q, who forgot to officially enter the contest for the 16th consecutive year, guessed 20 out of 24. She was the only one to predict Best Documentary correctly, but lost her lead with the editing awards.

I hope you all had fun watching the Oscar show.

A few statistics:

Movies winning more than one Oscar (# nominations in parens)

Four: The Shape of Water (13)
Three: Dunkirk (8)
Two: Blade Runner 2049 (5), Coco (2), Darkest Hour (6), Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri (7)​

Movies with the most losing nominations:

Nine: The Shape of Water
Five: Dunkirk, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri
Four: Darkest Hour, Mudbound, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three: Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me by Your Name, Get Out
Two: Beauty and the Beast, I Tonya, The Post, Victoria & Abdul​

Movies with more than 1 nomination and no wins:

Five: Lady Bird
Four: Mudbound, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three: Baby Driver
Two: Beauty and the Beast, The Post, Victoria and Abdul​

 

[RAPTOR']

I really wish "Alien Covenant" movie win some award.

 

[JamesMike]

Contest results

swiftaw is our gold medal contest winner, with 21 correct out of 24, missing only Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Live Action Short Film.

Doctor Q wins the silver medal with 20 out of 24, missing the same three plus Best Picture.

JamesMike wins bronze for his predictions, a not-too-shabby 15 out of 24.

Mrs. Q, who forgot to officially enter the contest for the 16th consecutive year, guessed 20 out of 24. She was the only one to predict Best Documentary correctly, but lost her lead with the editing awards.

I hope you all had fun watching the Oscar show.

A few statistics:

Movies winning more than one Oscar (# nominations in parens)

Four: The Shape of Water (13)
Three: Dunkirk (8)
Two: Blade Runner 2049 (5), Coco (2), Darkest Hour (6), Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri (7)​

Movies with the most losing nominations:

Nine: The Shape of Water
Five: Dunkirk, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri
Four: Darkest Hour, Mudbound, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three: Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me by Your Name, Get Out
Two: Beauty and the Beast, I Tonya, The Post, Victoria & Abdul​

Movies with more than 1 nomination and no wins:

Five: Lady Bird
Four: Mudbound, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three: Baby Driver
Two: Beauty and the Beast, The Post, Victoria and Abdul​

Not too bad for a 80% guess ratio, I better adopt a more Doctor Q method of watching the movies!

 

[Huntn]

Best comment ar the Oscars, Jennifer Lawrence to Jodi Foster using crutches during an award presentation: What happened to you?
It was Meryl, she I Tonyaed me...

I really wish "Alien Covenant" movie win some award.

That would be at the Raspberries.

 

[Doctor Q]

Apparently Jodi Foster was hurt in a skiing accident.

Of course, if I twist my ankle by tripping over the dog, I tell people that I was injured in a skiing accident.

 

[MacNut]

I vote for Dunkirk for most annoying ‘suspense’ music

Dunkirk was way to long and the flashback scenes made it very hard to follow.

 

[Clix Pix]

Best comment ar the Oscars, Jennifer Lawrence to Jodi Foster using crutches during an award presentation: What happened to you?
It was Meryl, she I Tonyaed me...

I cracked up when I heard that one! Perfect, and so timely!!

Since I only saw a few movies this past year I didn't attempt to enter the competition this time, as most of my responses would have been pure guesswork. Maybe next year......

 

[Doctor Q]

Since our contest hasn't drawn many contestants for the last few years, I think 16 contests is enough. 16 is a power of two, which makes it a round number for a final contest. Next year, I'll skip the contest and save the time it takes to prepare the details and do the recordkeeping. Or somebody else can start a contest thread.

In any case, we can have a thread to discuss the Oscars anyway. Perhaps next year the speeches will be about the unfair treatment of men, who are forced to be producers and directors, which requires making hard decisions all day long, while women get the more enjoyable jobs of bringing the men coffee! Seriously though, we've all seen plenty of movies by men, so let's help the women catch up by letting them make all of the movies for the next 90 years. Men can bring the coffee.

 

[Clix Pix]

On another forum in which I participate, there has been some discussion around the categories of the awards and the ever-increasing length of the broadcast. Some people felt that a few categories were "boring and uninteresting" and should be eliminated, and that this is a reason for the decline in viewers. I pointed out that while the awards ceremony is broadcast in the US and around the world and watched by many who are mere moviegoers and the general public, the reality is that this is the film industry's acknowledgement and celebration of its members and the work they have done in the past year. Whether or not a particular category interests me here in Northern Virginia or Joe Blow in Podunk, Missouri isn't the point; it's for Academy member and industry peers to commemorate excellent achievements by those with whom they work side-by-side while making a film.

That said, yes, undoubtedly part of the problem with the broadcast is that it is on a Sunday night and tends to run long and late, which is a problem for those on the East Coast, especially people who need to get up early on Monday morning to head out to work and to hopefully have a productive day at work. For various reasons the answer is not going to be to shift the ceremony and awards to Saturday evening.

In the discussion participants on the other forum had about the categories, some were nominated for moving to the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony, which is not broadcast but which honors the Academy members whose work is primarily technical. If I were running things, I would move the categories of Visual Effects, Production Design, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing to the technical side of things, as those are all pretty technical anyway. One person suggested also not including the Hair and Makeup category in the broadcast, too, or costume design. I disagree with that, as I think both of those categories are of interest to a lot of moviegoers, especially the costume designs.

Viewership of the Oscars may be declining over the years, and there are undoubtedly several reasons for that, but speaking for myself, I've been watching it for years, whether or not I've seen any or many of the nominated films, and have no plans to stop doing so!

 

[MacNut]

On another forum in which I participate, there has been some discussion around the categories of the awards and the ever-increasing length of the broadcast. Some people felt that a few categories were "boring and uninteresting" and should be eliminated, and that this is a reason for the decline in viewers. I pointed out that while the awards ceremony is broadcast in the US and around the world and watched by many who are mere moviegoers and the general public, the reality is that this is the film industry's acknowledgement and celebration of its members and the work they have done in the past year. Whether or not a particular category interests me here in Northern Virginia or Joe Blow in Podunk, Missouri isn't the point; it's for Academy member and industry peers to commemorate excellent achievements by those with whom they work side-by-side while making a film.

That said, yes, undoubtedly part of the problem with the broadcast is that it is on a Sunday night and tends to run long and late, which is a problem for those on the East Coast, especially people who need to get up early on Monday morning to head out to work and to hopefully have a productive day at work. For various reasons the answer is not going to be to shift the ceremony and awards to Saturday evening.

In the discussion participants on the other forum had about the categories, some were nominated for moving to the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony, which is not broadcast but which honors the Academy members whose work is primarily technical. If I were running things, I would move the categories of Visual Effects, Production Design, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing to the technical side of things, as those are all pretty technical anyway. One person suggested also not including the Hair and Makeup category in the broadcast, too, or costume design. I disagree with that, as I think both of those categories are of interest to a lot of moviegoers, especially the costume designs.

Viewership of the Oscars may be declining over the years, and there are undoubtedly several reasons for that, but speaking for myself, I've been watching it for years, whether or not I've seen any or many of the nominated films, and have no plans to stop doing so!

The big slow down is the musical numbers. And the fact that they nominate 10 movies instead of 5 like it used to be.

 

[Clix Pix]

That's a good point about the fact that they now nominate ten movies -- I'd forgotten that it used to be just five. Maybe they should cut that back again, perhaps to, say six or possibly eight at the most.

The performances of the nominees for Best Song indeed do slow things down quite a bit, but I don't think they would ever eliminate that, as it benefits everyone -- songwriters as well as the movie producers -- when we ordinary people out here are able to hear the songs, as that might prompt us to run to iTunes to buy the song or even to buy an entire soundtrack and/or to also go and see the movie or view it on Netflix or through iTunes or Amazon. Personally, I was not particularly impressed by any of this year's nominees but there have been times in the past when thanks to the Oscars broadcast I've heard a song unfamiliar to me from a movie I hadn't seen and liked it so much that I did buy it on iTunes, and/or I liked the performer and was prompted to check out more from him or her.

A couple of things which also took up time -- wasted viewers' time? -- during the Awards broadcast was that business with the Jet Ski and also a bunch of people going across the street to that movie theatre that was playing "A Wrinkle in Time". Neither of those amused me very much, although I realize that they were trying to add interest and variety to the show itself. I'm sure the producers of "A Wrinkle in Time" were pleased with the free promo!

 

[MacNut]

They nominate far to many subpar movies that take away from the great ones. Have 5 solid movies and stick with it.

 

[Doctor Q]

They expanded the number of Best Picture nominees (in January 2010) because of complaints that so many good movies were left out of the running. Another choice would be to have separate categories for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Picture - Drama, as the Golden Globes do. That's what I'd recommend.

It would be easy to speed up the ceremony. Just eliminate the commercials!

Which of my two suggestions do you think is more likely?

 

[MacNut]

They expanded the number of Best Picture nominees (in January 2010) because of complaints that so many good movies were left out of the running. Another choice would be to have separate categories for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Picture - Drama, as the Golden Globes do. That's what I'd recommend.

It would be easy to speed up the ceremony. Just eliminate the commercials!

Which of my two suggestions do you think is more likely?

The academy has never to my knowledge given best picture to a comedy. I just don’t think they hold them in high regard. I’d be fine with 10 nominations if we had 10 movies worthy if it. They past few years there have not been enough movies worthy of the title.

 

[Clix Pix]

Well, since I strongly suspect that they are not about to reduce the number of or totally eliminate the commercials, I guess that leaves us with Doctor Q's suggestion that they split Best Picture into two categories -- and actually, that does make sense, doesn't it? First off, it would make two producers happy in a year that there is an outstanding musical or comedy in addition to an outstanding drama.....two films would go home with the top award, then. Hey, if it's good enough for the Golden Globes it should be good enough for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences! In a year when there are no nominees for either best musical or best comedy, well, no award is given. ?? But then that might be controversial, too, so what would happen is that every year SOMETHING would be nominated, regardless of its genuine quality. Heh....

 

[Doctor Q]

The academy has never to my knowledge given best picture to a comedy.

Here are a few Best Picture films that would probably be in the Musical or Comedy category. Some are musicals, some are comedies, and some are both.

Birdman (2014)
The Artist (2011)
Chicago (2002)
Annie Hall (1977)
Oliver! (1968)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Why Fair Lady (1964)
West Side Story (1961)
The Apartment (1960)
Gigi (1958)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
An American in Paris (1951)
Going My Way (1944)
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
It Happened One Night (1934)
The Broadway Melody (1928-1929)​

With them out of the way, these dramas might have won Best Picture!

The Imitation Game (2014)
The Help (2011)
The Pianist 2002)
Star Wars (1977)
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Becket (1964)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Elmer Gantry (1960)
The Defiant Ones (1958)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Boys Town (1938)
Romeo and Juliet (1936)
Cleopatra (1934)
The Patriot (1928-1929)​

 

[MacNut]

Here are a few Best Picture films that would probably be in the Musical or Comedy category. Some are musicals, some are comedies, and some are both.

Birdman (2014)
The Artist (2011)
Chicago (2002)
Annie Hall (1977)
Oliver! (1968)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Why Fair Lady (1964)
West Side Story (1961)
The Apartment (1960)
Gigi (1958)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
An American in Paris (1951)
Going My Way (1944)
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
It Happened One Night (1934)
The Broadway Melody (1928-1929)​

With them out of the way, these dramas might have won Best Picture!

The Imitation Game (2014)
The Help (2011)
The Pianist 2002)
Star Wars (1977)
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Becket (1964)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Elmer Gantry (1960)
The Defiant Ones (1958)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Boys Town (1938)
Romeo and Juliet (1936)
Cleopatra (1934)
The Patriot (1928-1929)​

I would be fine with a split category but would the academy be willing to break with tradition.