This article was submitted by senior Alex Mancuso. Members of the Elon University community can submit opinions pieces to Elon News Network by emailing enn@elon.edu. Submissions should be no more than 700 words. ENN reserves the write to edit for grammar, length and clarity.
On March 4, 2018, one movie will bear the distinction of best picture. Years of development and production have culminated into this one night. But what is it that influences a best picture nomination? Talent? Marketing? Social Message? It’s a combination of all three and more, but one factor with arguably the most significance is the release date. People need to see a movie for it to win an Oscar. It’s the old question; if a studio releases a movie, but nobody is around to see it, is it a good movie?
In her 2013 article, “Proof That Release Dates Really Do Affect the Oscars,” for The Atlantic, Esther Zuckerman writes, “December is the most popular month for nominated releases… but winners tend to come from October and November… July has never produced a Best Picture-winning film.”
Of the nine movies competing for best picture this year, only two movies released before October received a nomination: Get Out and Dunkirk. This bleeds beyond best picture. In all four acting categories, only one actor received a nomination for a movie released before October: Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out. Since 2000, only three movies released before October actually won Best Picture: Gladiator (May 2000), Crash (May 2005) and The Hurt Locker (June 2009).
All ‘Oscar-contenders,’ compete for this October-December spot, resulting in delayed release dates or scrambled productions. Manchester by the Sea (2016) premiered in January, 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival, but delayed its wide release until November, 2016. The tactic prevailed and the film received six Oscar nominations, including best picture. Contrary, Steven Spielberg received the script for The Post (2017) in February 2017 and sped through production for a December 2017 release date.
Jeremy Kay from Screen Daily reports Spielberg saying the production was “faster than I’d ever experienced in my entire career.” Spielberg cites the current Trump administration as the main motivator for the rushed production:
“In today’s world, some would have us believe there is no difference between beliefs and facts and… [The Post] reminds us facts are the foundation of truth.” There is no doubt Spielberg’s latest picture possesses parallels to 2017 America, specifically the Trump administration, but President Trump holds office until 2020. Did Spielberg need to rush a 10-month production just for that? Yes and no.
Spielberg has multiple projects in development, so to create this project in the midst of everything required haste, but another reason for the rushed production could be the Oscars. A movie that correlates with America’s current President, featuring three-time Academy Award winning actress Meryl Streep, two-time Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks and helmed by three-time Academy Award winning director/producer Steven Spielberg just drips with Oscar appeal. Did it work? The movie received only two nominations: one for acting, (Streep), and one for best picture, illustrating that December movies can receive a best picture nomination with only one other nomination. In this case, Spielberg’s gambit had a humble victory. Most likely, his movie’s name will not be called to receive the title of best picture, especially with only one other nomination to support it.
Before awards season, theaters pack the rest of the year with franchise releases and odd-balls hoping to break the box-office. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The film industry is an industry. Therefore, movies possessing a following such as the Marvel franchise are a safe investment. Movies such as the The Post (2017), however, sometimes need an Oscar nomination to profit. Melena Ryzik of The New York Times writes how an Oscar nomination for best picture can increase box office revenue by $20 million: “a best picture nominee stands to make a quarter of its overall box office sales around the Academy hoopla.”
But movie-goers can only see these ‘Oscar-contenders’ in a three-month time frame; it’s too much quality in such a small amount of time. So do movies lack quality if they release elsewhere on the calendar? Of course not. Some of the years critically acclaimed pictures appeared earlier such as Beauty and the Beast (March 2017) and Spider Man: Homecoming (July 2017). Some even earn Oscar nominations in the technical fields, but most likely will not receive a best picture nomination. The whole process if far more complicated than many think.