Most people (including me) went nuts when they heard about "The Blockbuster Oscar", when the AMPAS announced an Academy Award for Popular Film. While there are no real details about here are some suggestions: 7 new categories the AMPAS should think about creating (or bring back in case of one category). This list includes the way I think "Most Popular Film" category should work:
"The Blockbuster Oscar" can be more like the People's Choice Award of Toronto International Film Festival than a way to honour producers who have already earned a lot of money at the box-office. My personal opinion, the AMPAS should release a list of semi-finalist and allow the creation of a online voting platform for popular voting... OR they can go all the way to TIFF voting process:
- PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
"attendees are invited to "vote" for the film by leaving their ticket stubs in voting boxes outside the theater after the show. However, to ensure that the voting process does not bias the award toward films that screened in larger theaters and that a film's own cast and crew cannot stuff the ballot box at the premiere, the overall number of votes received is also weighted against the percentage of the screening audience that the total number of votes represented. For example, a film which screened in a smaller theater, but had a highly passionate fan base who voted for the film en masse, can have an advantage over a film that had a larger number of raw votes representing a smaller percentage of the overall viewers" [SOURCE: Wikipedia]So, this year I can see movies like Mission Impossible: Fallout, The Avengers: Infinity War or Black Panther competing for the same spot against smaller yet popular productions like Crazy Rich Asians, A Quiet Place or even Eight Grade, Isle of Dogs or Blindspotting - it will depend on the voting process.
- BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING PERFORMANCE
- BEST VOICE OR MOTION-CAPTURE ACTING PERFORMANCE
We all remember memorable voice performance in both animated and live-action features: Robin Williams in Aladdin (1992), Tim Allen and Tom Hanks for Toy Story movies (1995 - 2010), Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Nemo (2003), Scarlett Johansson in Her (2013), Jennifer Jason Leigh in Anomalisa (2015) or even Idris Elba for The Jungle Book (2016)... All these acting performances generated real discussion about how award-worthy they were and some were even considered as contenders for Academy Awards. And let's not forget Zoe Saldana in Avatar (2009) or the incredible Andy Serkis in the last 2 movies of the LOTR trilogy and for playing Caesar in Planet of the Apes movies - in their cases, totally award-worthy motion-capture acting performances! It wouldn't have to be 5 nominees in case AMPAS members want to be more picky: 3 nominees slots would be enough to honor the best of the best each year.
- BEST JUVENILE PERFORMANCE
A former prize that was given to some screen legends were they were children: Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland or Hayley Mills were among some of the few recipients. The increase of the amount of cinematic productions plus the many "Best Young Actor/Actress" celebrated every year by many awards organizations create a scenario where it would be nice for the AMPAS to resurrect this award once again - maybe 3 nominees or just recognize a child actor for Best Juvenile Performance like they do with Honorary Oscars (1 name each year).
- AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCTION UNDER $XX M
If they can create a prize for most popular movie (AKA best blockbuster), then why not award the excellence in movies produced from a small budget? How many stories are waiting the light of the day just because their auteurs aren't bankable enough or because they didn't get enough mainstream attention? Because, less is more, sometimes!
- BEST MOVIE POSTER
I mean, why not? Some movie posters are true pieces of art and some of them become the face of many cult movies. Why not having an "Oscar-winning movie poster" on my bedroom wall?
- BEST CHARACTER DESIGN - ANIMATED FEATURE
Sometimes, animated features are a bit more than funny jokes and a plot full of heart, sometimes what our eyes see make a movie memorable. Remember Merida's amazing auburn hair in Brave? Or Loving Vincent's characters? And what about Toy Story at the time it was released? Excellence in character design should be honoured, definitely!
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