Netflix Oscar Race Plans Are Dividing Members Of The Academy
By Chris Evangelista/Nov. 14, 2018 1:30 pm EST
Some Academy members are fine with this, though. Producers branch member Stephanie Allain said: “The business is changing. We can’t hold on to everything. It’s fantastic that [Roma] is going to be in a big theater. To me there’s no devaluation at all in the way they’re releasing it.”
Others, meanwhile, think this is a full-blown scam. One anonymous Academy member said: “Netflix is pulling a big con…They’re trying to buy their presence and identity as a film company without playing by everybody else’s rules. They don’t want to take the risk of having bad box office numbers. They are going to make assertions about how fantastic the crowds were, but there will be no dollars. There’s no credibility because there’s no accountability.”
To the average movie-goer, and the casual film fan who tunes into the Oscars for entertainment, none of this is likely to register much. But it’s clear the Academy is of two minds here – traditionalists, and members who are open to change. Anyone can see that Netflix is only going through the trouble of theatrical releases to net Oscar nods – but is that any less manipulative than most other traditional Oscar campaigns? Oscar nominations are courted through junkets, lunches, and more – when you get right down to it, it’s all a racket. Netflix is just being a bit more transparent about their scheming than most. Will it pay off? It might. Roma is one of the year’s very best films, and I’d be shocked if it didn’t land some sort of Oscar nomination.
