Oscar’s new look

With the 94th Academy Awards Sunday, March 17, we look at diversity in the movie business.

Ratings issues

After three years without a host, the Oscars are going with three hosts for this year’s awards: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes are set to host the 94th Academy Awards.

The show is hoping to rebound from the dismal viewership of last year’s broadcast, which was an all-time low. The 2020 show had 23.5 million viewers while last year’s broadcast had 10.4 million viewers, a 56% decrease.

2020 was a bad year for awards shows. The Emmy Awards and the Grammy Awards also had the lowest viewership figures since Nielsen has been tracking.

Needing attention

In additional ways to try to increase viewership, the Academy bumped the best picture nominees from seven to 10. The Academy is also trying to increase interest through social media by a campaign to vote for a “fan favorite” movie that will be announced during the show.

Striving for diversity

The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences has made increasing its diversity a main priority in recent years.

In 2013, the Academy dropped a quota system limiting the amount of new members. In 2015, the Academy had 5,856 members that could cast votes. That number rose to 6,687 in 2016.

In 2020, according to the 94th Oscars fact sheet the number of voting members in the Academy is 9,487 as of January. It added 395 new members in 2021.

Celluloid ceiling

Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, the founder and director of San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film has tracked women’s employment on the 250 top grossing films for the last 24 years.

Her study released in the last two years also includes women’s employment on the Digital Entertainment Group’s Watched at Home list.

Since 2002, It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World has tracked the representation of girls and women on the top 100 grossing films (international films and re-issues omitted).

The summary reports the findings of a content analysis of over 3,100 characters appearing in films in 2021.

Here are a few findings in the 2021 study:

The percentage of U.S. top grossing films featuring female protagonists increased slightly from 29% in 2020 to 31% in 2021.

 

Who needs the box office?

Like last year, eligibility for the Oscars has changed to accommodate for COVID-19, with digital releases being considered for awards. Before the pandemic, the show only considered films that were released in theaters.

Seven of the 10 nominated films for best picture had wide releases were not box office hits with the exception of “Dune” which has made north of $400 million worldwide so far. Three of the nominees don’t have any box office receipts at all.

Here is how the Best Picture nominees that have received wide releases in North America have fared (as of Feb. 6):

• “Dune” – $107 million
• “West Side Story” – $36.7 million
• “King Richard” – $14.9 million
• “Licorice Pizza” – $12.7 million
• “Nightmare Alley” – $10.8 million
• “Belfast” – $7.4 million
• “Drive My Car” – $0.9 million

The top grossing film for 2021 is “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” $613 million

Three out of the 10 Best Picture nominees didn’t report any domestic box office since streaming was their primary distribution route.

Netflix: Two movies that made it into Best Picture – “The Power of the Dog” and “Don’t Look Up”(released in theaters for a couple weeks before available to stream)

Apple TV+: “CODA”: after being bought for $25 million at Sundance in early 2021, it was released quietly into a handful of theaters first.

Winning statues not the gross

Year, winning film in bold, highest domestic gross for other nominees:

2015

“Spotlight” ($45 million)

“Mad Max Fury Road” ($154 million)

“The Martian” ($228.4 million)

2016

“Moonlight” ($27.8 million)

“La La Land” ($151 million)

“Hidden Figures” ($169.6 million)

2017

“The Shape of Water” ($63.9 million)

“Dunkirk” ($189.7 million)

“Get Out” ($176 million)

2018

“Green Book” ($85 million)

“Black Panther” ($700.4 million)

“Bohemian Rhapsody ($216.7 million)

2019

“Parasite” ($53.4 million)

“1917” ($159.2 million)

“Ford v. Ferrari” ($117.6 million)

Will it stay this way?

It could be too early to tell but when the rules were changed in 2020 the Academy made a rule that opens the doors a bit wider and said that when movie theaters do come back, a film won’t have to play in L.A. to be eligible. Now, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Miami will be able to host qualifying runs, too.

Sources: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The-numbers.com NBC News, The Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, 2021 Celluloid Ceiling Report, SDSU