"Best Picture" contenders will now have to play more theaters!

Extremely exciting if ‘too little too late?’ news from the Academy this week. Best Picture contenders will be required to play in multiple markets starting in 2024. Longtime readers will note that we’ve been complaining about how easy it is to qualify for the Oscars for the entire lifespan of the site. The Academy has stated over and over again that they believe in the moviegoing experience and yet they have perpetually encouraged  the “one week only in a tiny theater” practice of competing without actually being available to 95% of people who might be interested. Long before the streaming wars made things a lot fuzzier the Academy wasw rewarding this audience-unfriendly practice. We’ve seen the slow erosion of interest in the Oscars from the moviegoing public over the years and it’s hard not to assume that the two things are related. 

Finally the Academy has decided that distributors need to make more of an effort. So now Oscar hopefuls will be required to commit to a theatrical expansion in at least 10 of the top 50 markets within 45 days of their initial release (a couple of those markets can be international)... 

While the Academy has not named or shared how they will define “top markets” we did a little research. It's remarkably hard to get a sense as to what is considered a top market and why despite box office being such a common reportage. According to Statista the top moviegoing countries (in terms of tickets sold in 2022) were…

1. India
2. China
3. US (note: box office stats for US usually include Canada)
4. Mexico
5. Japan
6. France
7. South Korea
8. UK
9. Brazil
10. Indonesia

The top 3 far surpass all other countries in tickets sold. But the most impressive rankings actually belong to France, South Korea, and the UK since they are the only countries with populations under 100 million to make this list. 

It’s interesting to compare that list to the places where the most movies get made, which goes like so (stats from 2022) according to UNESCO

1. India (1691 films)

2. US (1361 films)

3. Mexico (1289 films)

4. Japan (634 films)

5. Spain (320 films)

6. France (287 films)

7. Italy (273 films)

8. UK (220 films)

9. Germany (192 films)

10. China (174 films)

11. Brazil (173 films)

12. South Korea (106 films)

As for the top US theatrical markets, this is also difficult to get a bead on as searches for free information often only result in which movie chains have the most reach. But according to the sites lawnlove and HGTV the following cities (in very roughly this order) seem to be regarded highly as ideal places to live if you’re into moviegoing in terms of access to theaters and active film communities…

1. New York City

2. Los Angeles

3. San Francisco

4. Chicago

5. Austin
   
   Not coincidentally those five cities also have the most film festivals
   
   

6. San Diego

7. Atlanta

8. Portland

9. Seattle 

10. Washington DC

Where do you live and if you’re in one of these cities can you vouch for it being a good one for the movies? Finally, what do you think of Oscar’s latest move?

Comments

[Finbar McBride]

The interesting question is how many Best Picture nominees of the past ten years would still qualify for a Best Picture nod with the new rules?

[Edwin]

I’m almost certain All Quiet on the Western Front wouldn’t have been eligible last year under these new rules, and I’m sure there are more…I think almost the entire 2020 slate, but that year obviously needs an asterisk.

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[Arkaan]

I legit think that your consistent promotion of this idea helped brig this forth.

[Rick Schoen]

I live in Chesterton, Indiana which has exactly zero theaters. The two nearest multiplexes are about 15-20 minutes away and have 10 (Valparaiso, IN) and 16 (Portage, IN) screens respectively.

[Peter Bately]

They are growing their horizons! "Best Picture" contenders adopt more complete theatrical releases, allowing more audiences to experience the magic of these cinematic masterpieces.
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[Michael R]

Finally!