Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
This year, 37 feature films received Oscar nominations, with 8 of them up for Best Picture.
But thats nothing compared to the dozens of movies that began the year with Oscar ambitions.
But only a fraction of those hopefuls will be lucky enough to be nominated.
Is it luck, though?
Of course, that cant be it.
Every awards season raises the same question: What makes an Oscar favo(u)rite?
Its why we make predictions and chart a films chances across the fall film festivals and winter precursor awards.
But what ingredients go into making an Oscar flop?
What are the donts that too many films do?
Sometimes the answer is easy.
The film was just a steaming pile that no voter could love.
Other times its ephemeral.
You dont always have to be a great movie to get Oscar love.
But if youre looking to put together that special alchemy that leads to Oscar success, heres whatnotto do.
When a film has the misfortune to share an Oscar season with another film on the same subject.
But we had apparently already recently gotten our Oscar horse-movie fill withSeabiscuitin 2003.
Even their titles sounded identical enough that you could imagine David Letterman doing a Seabiscuit, Secretariat.
Secretariat, Seabiscuit bit (if they ever let him host the Oscars again).
Lesson 2: Avoid Movie-Star Fatigue
Hollywood is, of course, a star system.
But there can definitely be too much of a good thing.
Great performances like the ones he gave inCloserandI Heart Huckabeesgot lost amid the glut of Jude the Overexposed.
T & the Women, and the coup de grace,Pay It Forward.
She was never heard from again.
She was, but it took a long time.)
If anything, he ended up competing against himself with those first two.
Lesson 3: Adapting Great Literature Isnt Always Enough
How many thwarted Oscar hopefuls are birthed from Pulitzer Prizes?
The same logic is regularly applied to literary classics and stage plays, as well.
This years big victim of lit fail: Saoirse Ronan, whose tandem adaptations ofOn Chesil BeachandThe Seagullwent nowhere.
What do most of these subpar adaptations have in common?
Theyre overly deferential to their sources tone and structure rather than providing a precise cinematic take.
In other words, theyre boring.
You cant copy and paste quality, and the same goes for accolades.
Call it a cringe factor: No Oscar hopeful wants to be known first as a punch line.
You also dont want to be notorious for ghastly craft elements likeJ.
Edgars heavy old-age makeup.
And sure, there is room for varying degrees of taste.
Good movies released too early in the season are usually long forgotten when it comes time to vote.
(Solid effort,Tully.)
Imagine ifVicehadnt arrived at the last minute; maybe voters would realize few people actually like it.
Then the date just kept changing.
