The new Oscars fan favorite category has seen its leaderboard launched today by the Academy, with Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Suicide Squad notable entries.
In a tweet from the official account. the Academy for Motion Pictures and Sciences posted the inaugural “leaderboard” for the Fan Favorite award.
Some of the films include superhero blockbusters like No Way Home and The Suicide Squad, but also horror flicks like Army of the Dead and Malignant. The Power of the Dog, which already has 12 nominations to its name at the forthcoming ceremony, also features in the list.
The Fan Favorite category was launched following somewhat of a public consensus that the Best Picture category doesn’t necessarily reflect the best cultural impact or box office popularity.
Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s apparent snubbing caused backlash from Jimmy Kimmel (who works for Disney-owned ABC) and Kevin Smith who went on a tirade against the Academy exclaiming that they needed to make more “populist” choices.
In 2018, the Academy proposed a new award category called Best Popular Film which was shot down as quickly as it was raised, with the idea copping criticism from media outlets and within the Academy’s membership as a poor attempt at pandering.
The Fan Favorite category might just be a reinvention of that idea, albeit not a true Academy Award as it isn’t being decided by academy members. Regardless, you can currently vote for the award by tweeting your favored film with the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite.
