The Academy’s Theatrical Release Rules Need To Change - Opinion
From Shane Conto
Tis the season! The winter months are the time for big awards competing films. There is a big influx of films that are generally of high quality and it is a great time to be a cinephile. But what if you really want to watch The Zone of Interest or Poor Things and you see their release date only to realize you might have to wait another month plus because you don’t like New York City or Los Angeles. What a terrible feeling, right? This happens all the time especially with films coming from smaller studios.
Why is this a bigger issue now compared to the past? Audiences are pickier than ever when it comes to making it out to a theater. Streaming has become so big and the pandemic completely changed the landscape of the theater going experience. Some people have yet to go out to a theater post pandemic. They can just wait it out at home. So many films now get released in VOD or streaming so quickly that there is no real incentive to head out to the theater. So if you are going to make people in the rest of the country wait weeks to see your film after its opening weekend, what will stop them from waiting a few more to just watch at home? And there lies the issue.
Why does the Academy insist on having these old school rules in a changing world? Let’s start with the release window. First off, a film should have to be released wide in that year to qualify. No more of this stupid “release in one theater in December” and still qualify even though the film is really a January 21st release. This is a bigger issue than just the academy. People perceive the film world as pretentious and it is hard to not argue that. It looks like only LA and NYC are good enough to get films first. They are not and the rest of the film lovers across the country should be able to get the chance. Or even release them in a decent amount of markets to start. The Academy changing their rules can make a big influence on this if they choose to make changes to their own rules.
What is the opposite side of the coin? Streaming releases. This is going to sound odd after I made such a big deal about films getting full wide theatrical releases but it makes no sense to exclude all films that get released only on television and streaming services. If the quality is there and it deserves the recognition, the medium it was released should make zero difference. There have been some great films released like Weird and Bad Education which are ignored for awards consideration by the Oscars because they are the dreaded “TV movies”. Film is a film and especially in the current landscape. There will be less and less films (especially indies) that will have to go to streaming due to the current theater situation and it is downright wrong that they will be ignored for this significant recognition.
What about international release requirements? One of my favorite parts of the Academy Awards is seeing all the international films who get to be highlighted and recognized. But the challenge is that many of these international films are released around the Oscar ceremony and deep into the following year of film. That is really frustrating especially when you want to be well informed during the awards season. There should have to be an effort to get all films submitted to the Academy to be released in the closing months of that year. That way, it can get audiences more versed in international film (which is a great thing) and then you get to see all the great films released around the world in a timely manner. Whether they are on a streaming service or on the big screen, that accessibility to international films up for awards should be there.
Would these changes make things better? They would certainly create better accessibility to films for awards season. How could that be a bad thing? It would be more work to make sure these films are distributed across the world and in a more centralized manner but the work would be so worth it. For now, we will just have to dream about seeing the best films out there wherever you live… both on the big screen and the screen at home.
