BoxOfficeFangrl

Interesting, when it got announced I felt it was Mendes getting inspired by Dunkirk and wanting to do a version of that. I was joking but after seeing 1917, it does kind of feel a little like the criticisms of Dunkirk were noted and "fixed"... Nolan: World War II, but not the part that's been done to death on film. That Atonement scene was only 10 minutes. There hasn't been a proper Dunkirk movie in years and yea-- Darkest Hour, Their Finest? Never heard of 'em! Mendes: World War I, which hasn't been done to death on film. Dunkirk: People can't tell apart the young brown-haired guys on the beach. 1917: Here's a short guy and a tall guy, who also aren't too similar, facially. Dunkirk: Oscar voters confused/annoyed by the nonlinear storytelling. 1917: It all happens in real time! That is not to say which one is better, but just that after seeing both, I'm not surprised 1917 shows signs it's seriously contending for a Best Picture win, while Dunkirk was only ever an also-ran.

Right? They were probably hoping for Bey, plus Real and Fake Elton together for a moving TV moment, not as buzzworthy as last year, but things that could be sold to the masses easily enough. Now, no Beyonce, and Egerton will probably skip the ceremony like Blunt did last year after her snub. OTOH, they have Adele Dazeem, even if the song is not Let It Go, Frozen 2 is still a big hit. "Could Erivo get the EGOT tonight?" isn't a bad angle and her profile will increase from now until the Oscars. Chrissy Metz is on one of the last hit network shows, so that's something. Hopefully, no one tries to reimagine the Toy Story song as a Camila Cabello/Shawn Mendes duet.

The "Elton John and Bernie Taupin have never won a songwriting award together before this year" narrative could do the job, but the Best Original Song category has produced interesting results when there's not a runaway winner in the lineup. Maybe Rise Up has a shot (Erivo EGOTs!) or it might finally be Diane Warren's year with that Breakthrough song. Also, remember what a cluster the producers were making last year about skipping some nominated songs and shortening the performances, before public outcry forced their hand. And that was with real-world hits in the running, one performed by A-listers in their prime from a $200m movie and TPTB still had to be "convinced" to let them sing the full song. I'm afraid this year they will give 2 minutes to Elton, 45 seconds to Erivo and the This Is Us lady gets like three lines as part of a medley.

NBC could not move on from Gervais fast enough!

Agree, if there isn't a lot of passion for a performance it might get leapfrogged. Sometimes there's a coattail effect, if they really love a movie they will vote for everyone in it, but it depends on the strength of the category that year. Like, Alan Arkin got in for yelling "Argo f--- yourself" repeatedly, but no one ever said the Oscars were fair. I thought it was so weird last year that Jonathan Pryce got no traction for The Wife at all last year, I am looking at this year's nod as a bit of a make good.

If you are a co-lead and your movie's only real hope for a nomination, you should just be bold and go for the Lead category. The people who try to catch up with potential nominees before voting are going to watch movies that are contending in multiple categories, before getting around to the movie that might have one "lowly" Supporting nomination. Voters might not prioritize a movie with a lone Lead nomination either, but it's still higher up on the awards food chain. Sucks for JLo, though, she really wanted that Oscar nod and showed up everywhere, pretty much. The same thing happened to Chalamet last year with Beautiful Boy. Sure, Hustlers had the box office, but these voters watch most movies via screeners anyway. When was the last movie that won Best Picture, after leading the nomination tally?

Marriage Story was always Scarlett's stronger prospect though. Little Women did very well save Gerwig, but I was skeptical that the "you have to nominate her, because women" tone of the push was going to work with her again, I don't think the same person gets to play that card more than once. Sucks for JLo, loved her in the movie but I can never be too bothered when category fraud fails. You're Jennifer Lopez, go hard or go home!

I like The Ringer as a site in general, The Big Picture is one its podcasts I only half listen to because the hosts are too wrapped up in their own specific LA pop culture bubble and their lack of box office understanding always ends up irritating me. I get what they are saying about the HFPA, many celebs make digs about the Globes being a bit of a joke even as they are on stage, in a way they wouldn't about AMPAS at the Oscars. But the evidence of Globe wins boosting box office stretches back years at this point, even if everyone thinks the HPFA members barely qualify as journalists, it's a star studded event that's the second highest rated movie awards show of the year. It gets tons of media coverage that night and a few days after. Of course Golden Globe wins can't hurt a movie and its star(s), the only time it did was maybe La La Land winning too big that night and starting the backlash against it.

https://www.amctheatres.com/artisan-films According to the website: "Any movie with the AMC Artisan Films seal is an artist-driven film that advances the art of making movies." Seems a bit nebulous but I guess anything that's "cinema" and not a franchise thing.

If they just hosted and it went over well and the network says right away that they're coming back again next year, that makes sense, it's continuity. But this time it's been a bit of a hiatus since they hosted, and the most recent Globes ceremony wasn't even a week ago. It's just funny how quickly NBC and/or the HFPA seemingly want to move on from Ricky.

1917 is doing great, it's about WWI and doesn't have a box office draw in front of or behind the camera. I felt kinda bad when Sam Mendes went on about the movie having no stars with them right there but George MacKay agrees: Just Mercy wasn't doing the greatest in limited release, but sometimes a drama is just not made for the NY/LA arthouse crowd but flourishes with a slightly broader prestige audience outside of those two cities. Hopefully the Oscar nominations are kind to Little Women and it rebounds next week. Somewhat movie related, but has an award show host ever been announced this far in advance? Someone high up at NBC really must have haaaaaated Gervais!

Sam Smith still won the Oscar for that, somehow, so the producers probably think they can just wing it like before and it will be all right in the end. Wonder who they will get this time, a British act or someone else?

Another massively popular stage musical that flopped as a film though... Looking over the plot of A Chorus Line, it is kind of similar to Cats, in being a series of auditions with glimpses into the lives out the auditioners. A lot of movies musicals aren't big on plot but maybe have a stronger lead character and that resonates more with moviegoers? It's interesting to consider.

Not every film is plot driven, some are more about mood or atmosphere or a slice of life. Still, this is not some Linklater drama, the premise of Cats is kind of out there and moviegoers likely needed something more to appeal to them, than the experience of cat people dancing around. Ever since Hooper was announced, I felt he was a strange choice to direct something as weird as Cats when his sensibilities as a director (so far) had been more on the "grounded in reality" side of things. I guess it's good Hoooer wanted to branch out, but a Cats movie seems more like Baz Luhrmann's speed, or maybe, IDK, Ryan Murphy (even if his film efforts are more grounded than you might expect).

No Phillips at DGA but no Gerwig, either, and Taika gets in with Jojo Rabbit, another one universally beloved by critics, lol. This season is something else. Does Film Twitter even know who to be mad at? The answer is probably just "yes".

It's what they should expect when their #1s are movies that traditional studios took a pass on. Netflix does make it easier to watch a black-and-white 1970s drama in Spanish/Mixtec or a nearly four hour mob drama with de-aged De Niro and Pacino...but how much do voters want to see these things vs something that's under 2 hours and zips along? Anyone who's read those Anonymous Oscar Voter articles knows there's a segment of awards voters who are easily bored/confused and terribly picky; the Romas and Irishmen of the world are not for them. OTOH, it's pretty early into Netflix contending for major film awards, it took far longer for cable TV shows to break through and win bigtime Emmys.

Heh, from the Netflix account post-Globes:

Seth MacFarlane made a Harvey joke at the Oscar nomination announcements years before before #MeToo. The notion that only Gervais is brave enough to tell biting jokes to Hollywood's face has always been absurd; Tina Fey/Amy Poehler were plenty cutting in their time as GG hosts and Kimmel got in some barbs. Chris Rock destroyed Jude Law at the Oscars in 2005 and Jude fired his agents soon after. Cannot stand the Gervais "too cool for school" award show shtick when ultimately he's there, isn't he, in a paid gig and getting his mug all over the highly rated spectacle he supposedly despises, so who's the real hypocrite? Celebs who seriously dislike everything award shows are about, and hate them that much could just, you know, stay home, especially if they aren't nominated for anything. But then, there's not the same publicity in that, so...

Can't hurt the opening weekend...

Ripoff may be a bit strong, but IMO everything revealed about 1917 before its premiere felt like Mendes watched Dunkirk and immediately tried to figure out how to do his own version that would win more awards, including working with some longtime Nolan collaborators. It's fine, everyone gets inspired by something...

Goop looks tragic.

Yes, but they changed the "title" to Golden Globe Ambassador a few years back so it sounds less pageanty and it's gender neutral that way. They've been together a few years. I remember the AW forums were in total disbelief about him dating a woman, between his Twitter and Moonlight they were convinced he was gay. Also, Rian Johnson is married to Karina Longworth for all you classic film podcast geeks out there.

Who knows if this will amount to anything, but interesting...

Are theater drops really bad on New Year's weekend? Hardly anything new is out. The weekend after will be brutal, plus Universal will want theaters to move on to 1917's release.