Should The Oscars Nominate Blockbusters For 'Best Picture'?

The Oscars does not accurately reflect the viewing public's preferences for films. So my question is: should they start nominating blockbusters for 'Best Picture'?

By that, I don't mean Transformers should be nominated. Only the quality blockbuster pictures like 2016's The Jungle Book.

The Jungle Books effects were nice, but it certainly wasn't a best picture nomination.

absolutely if they deserve it. It should not mirror highest gross though. Usually blockbusters are never great because they take so little risk and are market tested, that really gets i the way of artistic intent. However, some blockbusters deserved best pic eg, dark knight, starwars ep4, starwars ep5, lord of the rings 1.

Dark Knight diserved but in the same year (2008), No Country for Old Man and There will be Blood was nominated.

Those films aren't reflective of the moviegoing public's preferences though. I honestly think that they should get rid of the Oscars committe and have the categories voted by the people.

yes.

If the people were to vote, Blockbusters would win

If the people were to vote; even movies like Twilight would would win, because - unlike many of those you see getting awards - a lot of people actually went out to see them [doesn0t mean they are good, but they are successful]

__________________

One of the reasons the best picture category has been expanded was to in theory to allow for nominations that were blockbusters like The Dark Knight. Hence why among the ranks of Oscar best picture nominations has included some very high grossing films for better (American Sniper) or worse (Avatar).

That being said the Academy will still vote they way the always have. Sometimes they choose really good flicks for Best Picture but other times they screw up royal. Plus the Oscars would in my opinion be even less relevant if the general public voted for them.

And in all honesty, who cares? The public votes with their wallets on what they want to see. If the academy and the public agree on a movie (like say American Sniper or Mad Max: Fury Road) then cool. Otherwise whether a movie gets Oscar nominations will not hinder my enjoyment. I prefer it if Hollywood would focus on making good movies rather then trying to get awards or massive box office bucks.

__________________
Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Ultraviolence - No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are 2007 films, but the Oscars ceremony where they were nominated was held on February 24, 2008. 2008 films would therefore have been recognised in the 2009 Oscars. The actual 2008 films that got nominated for Best Picture were Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and the eventual winner Slumdog Millionaire. As you can tell, none of them are blockbusters but the unprecedented critical success of The Dark Knight (complete with its own Oscar wins) was enough to convince the Academy to open up the field a bit more and start nominating more than the usual "Oscar-bait" type of film. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight one could argue that nominating the likes of Avatar or Mad Max: Fury Road was always going to come across as tokenism since the odds-on favourites were still more of the same kind of films that the Oscars have always rewarded.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

That already exists.

http://www.mtv.com/news/2722873/2016...wards-winners/

Furious 7 >>> Citizen Kane

They should nominate the best pictures. If they happen to be blockbusters, so be it.

I can't think of much recent blockbuster movies that are worthy of a best picture nomination though except for The Dark Knight which deserved to win.

That's not the Oscar's. I'm saying they should do it with the Oscar's.

But The Jungle book might not be deemed quality. What determines a quality blockbuster?

In my opinion The Handmaiden should have been up for best picture. But it didn't even get put forward by it's own country for foreign language film.

The Academy will put forward the films that they think are the best. Blockbusters don't regularly feature in this list because most block busters are throwaway, inane movies with unintelligent plots, awful characters and even worse acting.

There's no conspiracy. It's just because blockbuster / action / sueprhero / comic book / films are generally awful movies.

I don't know if you've noticed before this, but the Oscars have never had anything to do with the viewing public's preference

Lmao

Good point - which is why it should be left to the public to decide.

Just look at he box office takings if you want to do that.

The Oscars should nominate blockbusters for Best Picture.....but only if they're worthy. They shouldn't give a Marvel movie a Best Picture nomination purely because people liked it. Captain America: Civil War got great reviews and made a ton of cash, but did it deserve a nomination? No. Movies like The Dark Knight, Logan, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Force Awakens, Skyfall....these are movies that have the scale and spectacle of the Marvel Pics, with the added bonus of emotional depth. Movies like these should get nominations.

__________________
A man's got to know his limitations.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl should have been nominated for Best Picture in its year of release.

I think the Oscars should award movies that are important from an artistic/political standpoint which the voters feel should be highlighted as historically significant examples of the medium. What they've actually mostly tried to do is split the difference by going half my way and half the populist route which often results in awards being given to forgettable middlebrow stuff that makes no one happy. They should stop trying to please both masters. For me at least if they go totally in the blockbuster direction and start cutting "technical" awards out of the main broadcast, which I think is a legit possibility, I'll stop caring

You're mostly right but Avatar actually had decent odds at winning that year; it was neck and neck with The Hurt Locker the whole time