A2 WEEKEND THREAD | 134.1M DOM OW | Thurs 17m / Fri 36m / Sat 45m / Sun 36m

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

10 minutes ago, JohnnyGossamer said:

I think more here should have your *** designation. Lotta people saw and talked about Crash, Green Book, Departed, Argo, No Country. Especially Argo and Departed. They each made 130M+ DOM.

 

Departed definitely an oversight given star power and impact at the time, yes.

 

Argo was during my not-watching-movies period so you're probably right there too.

 

 

I think the 90s really hit the apex of Oscar = Blockbuster and after that there were so much fewer films that could be classified as such that weren't popcorn films. 

 

I mean technically Amadeus and Out of Africa WERE Blockbusters, but they wouldn't even be close now.

 

I do think that the one-two punch of Forrest Gump and Braveheart was responsible for some buyers remorse and some reflection afterwards - hence the knee-jerk choice of English Patient immediately after. It was perhaps the furthest that it's possible to stretch artistic credibility in the service of claiming a film is a "Great" film when two films in a row combing audience grandstanding (which is no bad thing) with depth and complexity (both of which Forrest Gump and Braveheart both eschew to an almost violent degree). Since then it's seemed a film has REALLY had to look like its going to stand the test of time (Titanic, ROTK, Gladiator and almost nothing since) both on an artistic level AND popularity level in order to justify the Oscar trigger for a megahit. TGM MAY join that list - after all it probably IS a better film the FG or BH but it feels slightly less robust than any of those post-English Patient three.

[CaptNathanBrittles]

3 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

And do we really need to define what a blockbuster is? A movie’s profit to budget ratio really has nothing to do with it. It’s about movies being seen and consumed by a true MASS audience (at the very least 500m WW by modern standards if we have to quantify it). A movie making 200m WW on a 10k budget isn’t a blockbuster, it’s just an absurdly profitable movie. 

 

Indeed! CLEOPATRA was a blockbuster. One of the most attended movies of all time but it lost money due to its insane budget.

[grey ghost]

The Academy isn't really biased against blockbusters. They're biased against sci-fi and fantasy. 

[Cap]

I think we got 1 or 2 hidden posts here (very impressive folks. That is basically nothing for a weekend like this!!) so we should hit 100 pages in about like 17 posts. 
 

Time to hit our flex goal of 150 pages.

[Giesi]

25 minutes ago, CaptNathanBrittles said:

 

The fact that GRAVITY won Best Director, Editing + Cinematography - the corner stones of filmmaking and not Best Picture was a travesty.

It’s crazy how forgotten it has become in the years since its release. Especially in the US, with a massive and leggy boxoffice run, Interstellar gets mentioned most of the time from the big space movies of the mid-2010s.

[M37]

16 minutes ago, Cap said:

Technically, a blockbuster is a term for meant a movie where people lined up around the block. Since we do reserved seating now, you could argue we don’t have blockbusters anymore 

So … Server-crashers?

[wildphantom]

2 hours ago, Eric The Last Airbender said:

TGM has that Best Picture win. It was basically bio-engineered in a lab to appeal to Academy boomer voters, it has huge industry support already, no real backlash has been brewing for it, the typical awards contenders have whiffed it at the box office (probably gonna whiff it forever tbh), even a "OMG this saved theaters forever" hook. Only other contender left is Everything Everywhere, which also has strong hooks behind it, but I think Top Gun's got just the ever-so-slightly stronger edge.

I haven’t seen Fabelmans yet, and adored EEAAO. But the thought of Top Gun winning Best Picture is all the feels. It would be amazing and thoroughly deserved as the film is just a magnificent piece of entertainment. 

[Mulder]

Gravity works in theaters, not really at home.

[Cap]

Just now, grey ghost said:

The Academy isn't really biased against blockbusters. They're biased against sci-fi and fantasy. 

And have been for ages. Whether it’s Annie Hall over Star Wars or Green Book over Black Panther: Different year, same pattern. It’s frankly a miracle ROTK won. 

[Deep Wang]

I can't believe we are doing it

[Maggie]

2 minutes ago, grey ghost said:

The Academy isn't really biased against blockbusters. They're biased against sci-fi and fantasy. 

And horror. Mia Goth should get a nom for Pearl

[NCsoft]

Just now, Mulder said:

Gravity works in theaters, not really at home.

Maybe so for most, but one of my biggest theatrical regret was never seeing Gravity in theatres. It still became one of my favourite of all time. 

[Cap]

1 minute ago, M37 said:

So … Server-crashers?

Yessssssss. Coin this now.

[M37]

14 minutes ago, cookie said:

Every movie is a hidden indie gem now.

“All our shows are secret shows”

 

[wildphantom]

Y’all sleeping on Elvis. That’s the dark horse. I’m betting the academy lapped that up. 

[ThomasNicole]

30 minutes ago, The Dark Alfred said:

 At Oscars story matters a lot, Best Picture and screenplay usually go hand in hand.

Bruh we watched something atrocious as The Green Book winning BP, you really believe story matters a lot for Oscars? Lol 

 

Similar things can be said about the BP winner this year. While CODA is certainly sweet it's far from the best script among the nominees.

[MovieMan89]

6 minutes ago, grey ghost said:

The Academy isn't really biased against blockbusters. They're biased against sci-fi and fantasy. 

This is a fair point. I think the real problem is the BP worthy winners of this century fall into genres the Academy simply CANNOT get past their bias towards. But good god is it high time already. 

Edited December 17, 2022 by MovieMan89

[Mulder]

Drive My Car should've sweeped the oscars this year lol

[CaptNathanBrittles]

3 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

Departed definitely an oversight given star power and impact at the time, yes.

 

Argo was during my not-watching-movies period so you're probably right there too.

 

 

I think the 90s really hit the apex of Oscar = Blockbuster and after that there were so much fewer films that could be classified as such that weren't popcorn films. 

 

I mean technically Amadeus and Out of Africa WERE Blockbusters, but they wouldn't even be close now.

 

I do think that the one-two punch of Forrest Gump and Braveheart was responsible for some buyers remorse and some reflection afterwards - hence the knee-jerk choice of English Patient immediately after. It was perhaps the furthest that it's possible to stretch artistic credibility in the service of claiming a film is a "Great" film when two films in a row combing audience grandstanding (which is no bad thing) with depth and complexity (both of which Forrest Gump and Braveheart both eschew to an almost violent degree). Since then it's seemed a film has REALLY had to look like its going to stand the test of time (Titanic, ROTK, Gladiator and almost nothing since) both on an artistic level AND popularity level in order to justify the Oscar trigger for a megahit. TGM MAY join that list - after all it probably IS a better film the FG or BH but it feels slightly less robust than any of those post-English Patient three.

 

THE ENGLISH PATIENT grossed more than BRAVEHEART.

 

BRAVEHEART was seen as huge risk when it was made. 3 hour, violent, R-rated medieval epics were not at all populous entertainment back then.

[Brainbug]

Honestly this thread is great. Reminds me of pre Covid BOT a lot.