How to make the Oscars more watchable
And early predictions for 2025
Last night was the 96th Academy Awards and Oppenheimer was the big winner of the night! The big loser of the night though has to be the at home audience. The show was kind of fun, but coming in at around three and a half hours makes for a long night. I love movies, I’m the audience they should absolutely count on, but I just kept it on in the background, and when someone who was on or winning an award who I wanted to see then I turned up the volume. And I doubt the people at ABC really care how I watch the show, because a view is a view, but I think there are ways to make the Oscars more mainstream and easier to watch.
1998 seems like a long time ago, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that long ago, and it is the record for Oscar views at around 55 million. Last year a little under 10 million people watched the telecast. I’m no idiot, and neither is anyone reading this, the Oscars will never get to that 55 million again, never. But I feel like 25 million isn’t too much to aim for if you are a producer, depending on the year and the movies. And the ratings for this years haven’t come out yet, so maybe they’ll come out in the coming days, or even hours and I’ll look wrong and dumb, but I’d be willing to bet I’m not.
If you look at 1998 and 2023 ceremonies, they have two things in common. They were both headlined by the biggest blockbuster of the year, both of which James Cameron directed. The difference is that James Cameron only showed up to (and won) one of the two ceremonies. Avatar: The Way of Water I personally did not see, but I don’t think many thought it should win Best Picture, and even though Titanic did, I don’t think that was the sole reason Cameron and Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick) skipped the ceremony. It is because it is long and kind of boring, and if they think they have better stuff to do with their time than attend the ceremony where they will be celebrated than why should us, the audience at home, feel like we need to watch the actual ceremony itself.
The first thing is the easiest and that is cut this sucker down by at least an hour. There is no reason that this should take three and a half hours. That is how long the super bowl takes with like a thirty minute halftime show. People don’t want to tune into something that is their whole night, unless it is going to be super exciting. And save for Will Smith vs Chris Rock being a segment at the 2025 Oscars, I really doubt that is going to happen at all. The question would just be, how can you cut a show down by an hour that has to take so many commercial breaks? The answer is you don’t take any. Put the ceremony on a streaming service. It is on ABC right now (owned by Disney), put that thing on Hulu (also owned by Disney). You can put sponsorships into the actual show to try and make that money that you are losing from commercial breaks right back. I’m not sure how the Nickelodeon alternate cast does for football, but you can do an alternate cast on Disney+ (also owned by Disney) with like the muppets hosting instead of whichever host they pick, to try to make it a more family show.
Which brings me to the next thing, and that is the host. I like Jimmy Kimmel, but I could watch him Monday-Thursday every week on his late night show (also on ABC). The next host should be someone who the audience at home doesn’t see or hear from that much, so we feel the need to actually want to turn into and watch their standup/monologue. John Mulaney killed with his 90 second segment last night, so the producers answers are right there in front of them to see. If not him, then someone else who is funnier and less accessible then Kimmel I think is the right choice.
Next up is you gotta get some stars to show up and go to the ceremony. That is why the majority of people want to watch. I thought the coolest speech last night was the Godzilla Minus One crew, but most people would probably say it was Downey. He’s a big star, and those are the people who get the views. Jack Nicholson used to show up every year (even when he wasn’t nominated) and just sit in the front row, sunglasses on, just because he was Jack Nicholson. And while we’ve grown away from those type of people being able to draw in the audience that easily, there are still the Tom Cruise, Leo, and Denzel Washington’s that you could call to at least give the show some credibility.
Finally, and frankly most importantly, move the ceremony up at least one month, if not two-two and a half. Movies from 2023 shouldn’t not be honored, but they also shouldn’t be honored in the middle of March when 99% of the world has moved on from what happened at the end of February, let alone in 2023. It also takes away any suspense having it this late and after every other award show, everyone in the world could look at the odds and easily predict the Oppenheimer win. So it would add some much needed mystery to the show.
I’m going to take my own advice however, and not have this run too long, other than to just say THANK YOU, if you are still reading this far. And just for fun, below I am going to list the ten movies (in no particular order) I think will be nominated for best picture at next years ceremony, so a year from now we can see just how wrong I was.
2025 Best Picture Nominees
Dune: Part 2 (Warner Bros./March 1st)
Megalopolis (TBD/TBD)
Blitz (Apple Studios/TBD release date)
Kind of Kindness (Searchlight Pictures/TBD release date)
Gladiator 2 (Paramount Pictures/November 22nd)
Hit Man (Netflix/June 7th)
Juror No. 2 (Warner Bros./TBD)
Polaris (TBD/TBD)
Untitled Noah Baumbach (Netflix/TBD)
Bird (A24/TBD)