Every year, at this time, movie studios—large and small—begin the annual marketing blitz touting their awards-seeking prestige titles.
This practice began in 1960 when actor Chill Wills took out an ad in The Hollywood Reporter promoting his supporting performance in “The Alamo.” This succeeded inasmuch as it led to Wills receiving an Oscar nomination (he lost the award to Peter Ustinov for “Spartacus”), but was a colossal failure public-relations-wise.
The self-aggrandizing rubbed too many Academy voters the wrong way, including “The Alamo” leading man, director, and producer John Wayne. Wayne took out his own advertisement calling the move “reprehensible” and that he was sure that Wills’s “intentions were not as bad as his taste.” Wills’s PR agent W.S. “Bow-Wow” Wojciechowicz accepted the blame, stating Wills had no prior knowledge of it.
Copycats and Hypocrites
What’s most ironic—some might say hypocritical—is the studios began to do exactly what Wojciechowicz did (wink wink), but on a grander scale but with slightly more nuance. At year’s end, ads in the movie trade magazines overflow with splashy spreads promoting studio films, writers and directors, and performer’s names followed by the text “For Your Consideration,” meaning, please consider these people when voting or nominating in various awards competitions.
The principal target was, and still is, voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the body that awards the Oscars. The rub here is that AMPAS doesn’t even announce its nominees in any given year until four to six weeks before the annual ceremony in March. By this time, virtually every critics group in the country has long since announced their respective winners. This is why critics groups are crucial to the nomination process.
The AFCC
On Dec. 3, 2018, the Atlanta Film Critics Circle (which I co-founded the year before with Felicia Feaster) released the results of our year-end voting. One of our special awards is Best Breakthrough Performance, given to a new or obscure actor in a role that gains wide attention and praise. In the end, it was a tie between Elsie Fisher in “Eighth Grade” and Lady Gaga in “A Star is Born.” It’s worth noting, the AFCC was the first critics group in the nation to announce winners that year.The following night, Fisher appeared on “The Tonight Show” and host Jimmy Fallon congratulated her on her win. She was ecstatic, the audience went wild, and our upstart group was mentioned on national TV.
Why do critics weigh in on these matters in early December? In order to determine the best films and performances of the year, we have to see all eligible titles by the end of November at the latest. To that end, studios and their various PR agencies schedule screenings of as many titles as they can in the shortest amount of time possible before the viewing cut-off. The AFCC cut-off is always the last week in November.
‘Dumptember’
The sheer volume of titles shown to critics at brick-and-mortar theaters, via online links, and on physical DVDs is often overwhelming. So much so that it is nearly impossible to see everything in such a short space of time before fatigue sets in. In one year in the late 2000s between mid-October and the end of November (45 or so days), I watched 62 movies. This is the part of the year I refer to as “Dumptember.”In many instances, some studios go beyond mere screenings of their desired award-seeking titles. They send critics promotional items that reference these films, sometimes in a clever, comical way.
For example, in 1999 I received a package from Fox to remind me of “Fight Club,” which was released on Oct. 15. Among the items included were a bar of soap with the embossed film logo on it and a bird’s feather. Dedicated fans of the movie will make the wry connection.
In mid-November 2022, I received a box from Netflix that was a near replica of the one featured at the beginning of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” It contained a promo T-shirt, a baseball cap, a copy of the screenplay, a limited edition clear vinyl LP of the score, and other incidental items.
Love-Hate
Since the dawn of the medium, movie studios have had a love-hate relationship with critics. Between late spring and mid-summer, studios could largely care less what critics have to say about their films. While good reviews are always welcome, they rarely move the needle either way at the box office.Audiences wanting to see the latest popcorn tentpole action movie don’t care what critics think; they’re going to see these movies regardless of critical consensus, whether positive or negative. The fall season is a different animal altogether.
In most cases (not all), movies released during this time are overlong, depressing, and although largely high quality, turn off most audiences. Positive critical reviews of these films are not only crucial to the box office (which often never happens), but more so to bolster their profiles and bona fides while grabbing the attention of AMPAS (and Golden Globes) voters.
Viewers’ Votes
During my 25 years as a critic for a daily paper in Atlanta, I put together my own year-end Top 10 lists (apart from aggregate critics group lists I contributed to at the same time) identifying my favorite titles of any given year.With few exceptions, half of my choices were in line with most other critics—but the other half were not.
In the early weeks of January each following month, I received multiple emails from readers thanking me for mentioning titles for which they hadn’t previously been aware. They were able to watch them and, for the most part, agreed with me.
Although there are always minor differences, the titles landing on the Top 10 lists of most major metropolitan area critics groups share a great amount of overlap. The choices tend to swing to the left ideologically, where movies containing overt and subliminal social messaging rise to the top. This is a trend that will not go away any time soon, if ever.
The not-so-secret way for viewers to not fall prey to this groupthink mentality is to find a critic or critics affiliated with a politically neutral outlet, follow them with regularity, read their reviews, and use these commentaries as either direct or reverse barometers.
If you agree with these critics most of the time, trust their judgment. If you regularly disagree with them, avoid titles they recommend. It’s that simple. Read between the lines. Subscribers to The Epoch Times are highly intelligent and informed individuals more than capable of coming to their own conclusions regarding the arts and entertainment.
