Tom Cruise's smash recalls era when smart populist films snagged Oscar gold.
Top Gun Maverick was not made for awards season. The continued adventures of Pete Maverick Mitchell from 1986s Top Gun hoped for some sweet Summer ticket sales. Mission Accomplished $716 million in the U.S. and $769 million via international theaters. And more is on the way now that Top Gun: Maverick is available via Blu ray.
Thats not where the story should end. Film critics who often like but rarely love populist fare rallied behind Maverick. The film earned an eye popping 96 percent fresh rating along with a 99 percent score from general audiences. For perspective the original Top Gun has a 58 percent rotten rating from critics. That cultural uniformity is rare these days. We are more accustomed to seeing sizable splits between the two groups. This brings us to the 2023 Oscars.
Next years ceremony faces sizable headwinds from declining ratings to a public fed up with the broadcasts woke makeover. The Oscars do not matter culturally like they once did and the movies up for the nights biggest award rarely draw a crowd .None came close to the $100 million mark. And many runner up films earned much less. The last Best Picture winner to fully unite critics and audiences? The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King ($378 million) nearly 20 years ago.
0 Comments