The Academy is trying to rejuvenate the Oscars with the introduction of a category celebrating "outstanding achievement in popular film", but there are much better potential categories that wold definitely increase their ratings.
The often-cited potential categories are the likes of Best Motion-Capture, Best Stunt Performance, and a casting-focused Best Ensemble. Each of these deserves a place in the Oscars, representing as they do incredibly underappreciated areas of the moviemaking process. However, would they help increase excitement and discussion around the Oscars? We're not so sure.
Related: The "Popular Film" Oscar Is An Insult
Today, Screen Rant's editors and writers have done the Academy's job for them and come up with four categories that could genuinely reshape the Oscars and bring in a wider range of movies. After all, how else would you get movies like The Meg and Venom in contention?
Best Reshoots
Last Year's Winner: Justice League (the reshoots are terrible, but it's the only high-profile case so wins by default).
This Year's Winner: The Predator (for director Shane Black being so oddly open about reshooting the entire third act).
If you really want to honor popular cinema and be honest about it, what better way than to look at reshoots. Big movies are big money, and with that much risk often studios will get wary and want to change something last minute. Pick-ups are a natural part of the moviemaking process, of course, but in recent years we've had a litany of high profile movies where tone and story have been retooled by post-production reshoots: Fantastic Four, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Justice League, Solo: A Star Wars Story (and these are the ones we know about). Even movies like Thor: Ragnarok changed things last minute. So, rather than having this a confused secret, why not make it the most talked about award in town? - Alex Leadbeater (Lead Features Editor)
Best Title
Last Year's Winner: The Fate of the Furious (because they resisted making it F8 of the Furious, even though that was clearly what they were getting at).
This Year's Winner: The Meg (because you can hear Jason Statham saying it, without even knowing he's in the movie).
There's a major hole in the creative awards the Academy has been handing out for years. Directors are awarded for how a story is presented on screen and writers are awarded for how it looks on paper, but what about how it looks on billboards, posters, and marquees? A title is a movie's biggest point of exposure to the masses, and more people read the title than see the movie or even watch a trailer. Yet these focus groups of men and women responsible for workshopping these labels get no thanks.
Best Title fixes all that. The creative minds that come up with a (typically) short phrase designed to raise the intrigue and tease the subject matter and tone while still looking cool on posters will finally get their due. Beginning to recognize this special craft could also elevate the Hollywood movie title game even more, with aspiring title writers earning a name for themselves as the top titler in the world, raising the bar on movie naming for years to come. - Stephen Colbert (Associate Features Editor)
Biggest Trailer Spoiler
Last Year's Winner: Spider-Man: Homecoming (for Sony putting the entire plot in the main trailer)
This Year's Winner: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (even Colin Trevorrow called them out)
Spoilers in trailers have become as commonplace in movies as CGI, so why not have some fun with it? Maybe it'll encourage some competition to see who can be the most egregious offender. Shyamalan could put the big Glass plot twist in a preview and walk away with an award. - Chris Agar (Associate News Editor)
Best Fake Accent
Last Year's Winner: Nicole Kidman - The Beguiled
This Year's Winner: Tom Hardy - Venom
Seeing as a fake accent can really make or break a performance, it’s high time the Academy recognized actors for their ability to tweak their native tongue for a role. Some actors might turn in a fair performance overlooked by the Academy, but still manage to pull off an exemplary accent (see: Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad). This award would finally recognize the demanding schedule actors endure while practicing with some of the industry’s most esteemed dialect coaches. Last year, Nicole Kidman was robbed for her impeccable Southern drawl in The Beguiled; an accent that represents real growth and evolution from her Southern drawl in movies like Cold Mountain and HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn. - Danny Salemme (New & Features Writer)