It’s about time the Oscars finally introduced a ‘Box Office’ award so that beloved blockbusters get the recognition they deserve
Jan. 26, 2024OPINION | The popularity of blockbusters shouldn’t be lost to cinematic snobbery
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“Commercial backlash”
While there have been initiatives to involve blockbuster movies at The Oscars, such as the twitter-led’Fan Favourite' and ‘Top Cheer Worthy Moment’ polls from previous years, the general wisdom is that big budget movies tend to be recognized for their technical achievement. At best, they receive the occasional nomination in the Best Picture, Director, and Acting categories. For instance, despite ruling the box office for a generation, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has only one Best Picture nomination (Black Panther), and only one acting nomination (Angela Bassettfor Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) in its entire history.
While what makes a ‘great’ movie or performance is subjective, it does seem that the bigger a film gets, the more voters seem to be turned off. It’s not a new problem. Acirculated clipfrom 1976 showed Jaws director Steven Spielberg lamenting the film’s lack of nominations. “This is called ‘commercial backlash’” he grumbled. “When a film makes a lot of money, people resent it”.
Robert Downey Jr., nominated this year for Oppenheimer,recently reflectedon the critical attitude of superhero movies when looking back on his time as the figurehead of the MCU. “I think I did some of the best work I will ever do (as Iron Man), but it went a little bit unnoticed because of the genre” he remarked on theLiterally! With Rob Lowe podcast. His co-star, Captain America actor Chris Evans, concurs that the superhero label can be limiting. “If you take the Marvel moniker off those movies, and characters that aren’t identifiable from comic books, these movies would be lauded in that way” he toldDeadline.
This stigma is perfectly encapsulated by comedian Jo Koy’s joke at this year’s Golden Globes. “Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project and Barbie is based on a plastic doll with big boobies” he quipped. Despite Greta Gerwig’s film being a complex exploration of feminism, commercialism, and identity, people think that it can’t be considered as deep as Christopher Nolan’s film because of the subject matter. The Oscar voting seems to bear this out, with Oppenheimer gaining more nominations than its counterpart.
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Victoria is a freelance film journalist. Since 2007, she has written and broadcasted about film for a variety of outlets, including The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, and the BBC. She has a passion for cinema, and covers everything from the latest blockbusters to undiscovered indie gems. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, as well as following professional wrestling.
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