In a transparent attempt to draw in a younger demographic, the Academy Awards have created a brand new prize that’s voted for entirely by the fans. It’s a sound enough idea in theory, but putting it into practice on the lawless wasteland of Twitter is an entirely different matter.
Using the #OscarsFanFavorite tag, the public will be able to award a notable honor upon a movie that would have otherwise been shut out of the conversation completely. As you can imagine, though, several notable roadblocks have already appeared.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is ineligible due to its status as a streaming exclusive and alternate cut of a film that was first released in 2017, and the filmmaker’s supporters weren’t best pleased about it. Understandably, you’d think that would clear the way for Spider-Man: No Way Home to take top honors, but that’s not necessarily the case.
As per Deadline‘s Pete Hammond, Amazon’s panned re-imagining of Cinderella is the runaway leader of the poll at this moment on time, with the reporter stating that “it’s not even close”. Not only that, but Johnny Depp’s troops have mobilized to see Minamata rocket up the rankings, even though it was only recently awarded a theatrical rollout.
If the Academy introduces a new category to appeal to the youth and the dismal Cinderella emerges on top, it’s not unreasonable to think that we probably won’t be seeing #OscarsFanFavorite ever again.