Oscars: Cineworld Chief Mooky Greidinger On “Disconnected” Academy: “The King Is Naked!” – Deadline

I'm not watching, results are all over the Interwebs. Only Best Pic nom I'm interested in is Licorice Pizza.

https://deadline.com/2022/03/oscars-mooky-greidinger-academy-industry-emergency-committee-guest-column-1234986081/

For more than a decade, we have seen the Academy Awards ceremony deteriorate and its cultural power wane, losing ratings and consumer interest not only in the U.S. but worldwide. Oscar Night was once the biggest event for our industry and for all cinemagoers — an opportunity to celebrate the most beloved movies and performances that millions experienced together in theaters over the past year, as well as to introduce an international consumer audience to smaller independent and foreign features that they may not have had access to otherwise.

The last straw, which led me to write this piece, was this year’s list of nominations. In 2009, the Academy increased the number of films that can be nominated for Best Picture from five to 10, with the intention of giving more movies the chance to win. Yet, despite the expansion, many of the largest and most influential films of today remain unrecognized.

The theatrical release of Spider-Man: No Way Home has had a tremendously positive impact on our industry: reinvigorating Covid-era theater attendance, ranking as the third-highest-grossing film of all time in North America and being the most audience-recognized and watched film, according to Morning Consult. With such resounding support from global audiences, I find it hard to believe Spider-Man did not deserve a place among one of these 10 Best Picture nominees. Similarly, No Time to Die, the latest entry in the James Bond franchise, was a global phenomenon, and yet not considered by the Academy as one of the 10 top movies of the year. How disconnected can the Academy be from the cinema experience that it is supposed to celebrate and award?