Why Do Movies Get Snubbed?
One thing from Nate Silver’s Oscar liveblog really stuck with me. At 8:28 he wrote this: “Discuss: the reason why Dark Knight and WALL-E weren’t nominated for Best Picture is because everyone who was going to see them has already seen them anyway.”
While I wasn’t able to confirm his theory, I did run across some interesting stats over at Box Office Mojo. This year the nominated films made an additional $104.4 million after nomination (or 35.6% of their total take). That is the second highest percent gain (only behind 1988′s 38.2%). The Reader pulled in 64.2% of it’s total revenue post nomination while Slumdog pulled 53.9% (and sure to grab more).
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Its also because there is so much, we move on quite quickly. Looking for the next new thing
You could also argue that heath ledger only won due to his untimely death. (Not that Im against it being australian, especially after Russell Crowe loosing out to Denzel a few years back). But I think its all about publicity at the right time.
I dont know if you got it in the US but every paper in the UK had pictures of the poor kids from india that were in slumdog millionaire getting on the plane to LA and the parents arguing that they would prefer the money. Once again a huge amount of publicity.
I guess thats why the best movies tend to come out around now
I agree with the point Mike’s making.
The movies that have already made all the money they could/should make by the time of the Oscars would have been released way way before its Oscar time.
And they often get overlooked because no one remembers them – producers tend to mail the Academy members DVDs to drum up interest but for some, the time has clearly passed.
But I do have to add that I myself didn’t think ‘The Dark Knight’ deserved a Best Picture nomination. No way.
But then again I didn’t think ‘Slumdog’ deserved the win, ie until I saw ‘Benjamin Button’ today.
After surviving that 3 hour ordeal, I think every movie released last year deserves a Best Picture nomination. Except Benjamin Button, of course.