The organizers of the Oscars have announced that they will introduce a new audience award that fans can vote for online. The Academy, which has been criticized several times in the recent past, thus seems to want to counteract the dwindling number of viewers at the award ceremonies.
The new category was announced by Meryl Johnson, Vice President of the US Film Academy, on Monday. The online voting would give fans and viewers the opportunity to attend the ceremony live and become part of the event in a way that has not been possible before. Fans can vote for their favorite up to March 3 up to 20 times a day on Twitter or on the awards website.
Oscar review – what was great and what was a flop:
There is also another survey that fans can answer. So fans can vote for their most beautiful “movie jubilee moment”. According to the Academy, these should be film scenes in which the audience could not help but burst into cheers. The five most chosen scenes will then also be shown at the awards ceremony.
The Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences seems to be breaking new ground in audience participation. Because the organizers of the Oscars are under pressure to counteract the falling ratings. In 2021, the event attracted only ten million viewers* in front of the television – that’s only half as many as the year before.
So far, only the members of the film academy voted on the awarding of the prizes. They have long been criticized for being too white and too male, and for preferring films that place little value on diversity and diversity. After protests under the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy announced in 2020 that it wanted to take diversity criteria into account when selecting films. However, the new rules will not apply until 2024.
According to critics, another reason for the declining relevance of the event is that the Academy would often ignore films that were particularly successful at the box office and therefore particularly popular with viewers.
Moderators lead through the show again
After all, this year, for the first time since 2018, there will be moderators who will lead through the awards ceremony. According to insiders, actresses Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wandy Sykes will host this year.
The 94th Oscars will be presented this year on March 27th in Los Angeles. With 12 nominations, the darker Western The Power of Dog is the favorite of this year’s awards. Benedict Cumberbatch was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role in the film. All other nominees can be found here.