Dear Academy: Don't Cry When The TV Ratings Dim For The Oscars

The Academy could have picked The Dark Knight, but I guess they were too haughty to make the right call.

By: Fred Cunningham | News Channel 7
Published: January 22, 2009 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

The nominations are out and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire as their Best Picture nominees.

So once again, we're led to believe that the only really good movies of any year come out in November and December. As I look at these films in order, here are my short responses:

Button: didn't see it.
Frost/Nixon: they turn a stage play into a movie and it's a Best Picture possibility?
Milk: didn't see it.
The Reader: never heard of it.
Slumdog Millionaire: didn't see it, but my CW partner Heather Sullivan loved it.

I don't think I'm alone, judging from the U.S. box office performances of the Best Picture nominees as noted below (with release dates included) according to Box Office Mojo:

Button: $104 million (12/25)
Frost/Nixon: $8.8 million (12/5)
Milk: $20.5 million (11/26)
The Reader: $7.9 million (12/10)
Slumdog Millionaire: $44 million (11/12)

The Academy had a chance to prove they're not a bunch of snooty Leonard Pinth-Garnell types by considering The Dark Knight for Best Picture.

All The Dark Knight had going for it was strong critical reviews (94% approval according to Rotten Tomatoes), the second best box office performance in the history of American cinema ($531 million) and an iconic performance by the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, which did nab a Best Supporting Actor nod.

But the Academy says uh, it's just a Batman movie.

I'm not saying that Paul Blart: Mall Cop should be up for Best Original Screenplay a year from now and if the AMPAS doesn't care about viewer (i.e. moviegoer) interest, then keep picking films that open only in New York and Los Angeles just before the end of the year.

Brad Pitt and the 13 nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button may be enough to perk up the collapsing Nielsen ratings (along with non-comedian host Hugh Jackman, an actual smart move by the Academy), but nothing short of an Angelina Jolie-Jennifer Aniston wrestling match on the red carpet is going to draw the interest The Dark Knight would have brought to the 2009 Oscars.