Source: Variety (H/T Indiewire)
For years, the Academy Awards have been accused of being out of touch with the tastes of mainstream moviegoers, with probably one of the most notable examples being a lack of a Best Picture nomination for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. In the latest example of Academy tastes versus popular opinion, there has been the campaign from cinemagoers for last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, which of course did not happen when the nominations for the 94th Oscars were announced last week.
One individual who is particularly not happy about the supposed snub for Spider-Man: No Way Home is the always-outspoken filmmaker Kevin Smith. Speaking on his Fatman Beyond podcast, Smith heavily criticized the decision not to include Spider-Man: No Way Home, saying:
“Man, and they’re like, ‘Why won’t anyone watch this show?’ Like f***ing make a populist choice, f***, man. You got how many slots? Throw in Spider-Man for god’s sakes. Let him swing in there. F***ing poor kid’s always getting c****ed on and s***, show Peter Parker some f***ing love. I’m not even being facetious, with as many movies as they have nominated for best picture…”
Despite being probably the most vocal about it, Kevin Smith is not alone in the sentiment that the Academy include some more populist choices in their nominations, despite the fact that Black Panther and Joker both received Best Picture nominations in recent years. In 2018, the Academy announced its intention to introduce a new award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film. However, due to immense criticism, the addition of this award was eventually postponed.
The 94th annual Academy Awards take place on March 27, 2022.