Oscar bait

Oscar bait is a term used in the film community for movies that appear to have been produced for the sole purpose of earning nominations and/or winners for Academy Awards, or "Oscars", as they are commonly known.[1] They are usually released just in advance of Oscar season, late in the calendar year, so as to meet the minimum eligibility requirements for the awards and be fresh in the minds of Oscar voters. The prestige or acclaim the studio may receive from the nomination or award is often secondary to the increased box office receipts such a film may garner; some films may even be depending on it to turn a profit.[2][3][4][5]

Films seen as Oscar bait often have distinct characteristics. Lavishly produced epic-length period drama and war films, often set against tragic and historical events, are frequently seen this way and often contend for the technical Oscars such as cinematography, makeup and hairstyling, costume design or production design.[6]

While the term has been used in discussions of films since at least 1942, and studios have always tended to release at least some films that seemed intended for Oscar voters near the end of the year, the explicit use of the Oscar nominations as a promotional strategy dates to 1978. That year, Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter was shown only to limited audiences heavy with Oscar voters and critics for just long enough to be eligible, and then went into wide release after the nominations were announced.[7] It ultimately won that year's Best Picture Oscar. In later years other studios emulated the strategy, and in the early 21st century the term has come into wide use among both filmmakers and viewers.[8]

Films termed "Oscar bait" are not always successful. Many films that appear to be made with the overt intent of gaming the system by pandering to the perceived biases of Academy voters have instead received no nominations at all. Audiences have in turn avoided those films in favor of those that did receive nominations. In a 2014 study of 3,000 films released since 1985, two UCLA professors identified the 1990 film Come See the Paradise as the most deliberately targeted for the Oscars. It received generally positive reviews, but did not receive any nominations and failed at the box office.[9]

  1. ^ VanAirsdale, S.T. (December 26, 2012). "Baiters Gonna Bait". Slate. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  2. ^ Rausch, Andrew (2004). Turning Points in Film History. Citadel Press. ISBN 9780806525921. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  3. ^ King, Geoff; Molloy, Claire; Tzioumakis, Yannis (2013). American Independent Cinema: Indie, Indiewood and Beyond. Routledge. ISBN 9780415684286. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  4. ^ Emanuele, Julie (January 26, 2014). "The Academy Didn't Bite for Oscar Bait This Year". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  5. ^ Kalb, Ira (February 13, 2013). "Here's How Much Hollywood Studios And Stars Can Earn By Winning An Oscar". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  6. ^ Detweiler, Craig, ed. (2008). Into the Dark (Cultural Exegesis): Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century. Baker Academic. ISBN 9781585588466. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  7. ^ Hofler, Robert (February 19, 2010). "Carr's marketing on 'Deer Hunter' rewrote awards game". Variety. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  8. ^ Levy, Emanuel (February 21, 2010). "Deer Hunter: How to Promote a Controversial Film". emanuellevy.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  9. ^ Keating, Joshua (January 15, 2014). "The Most (and Least) Oscar-Bait-y Movies Ever, According to Science". Slate. Archived from the original on March 21, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.