Chapter 180: Oscar Awards Public Relations

Originally, "Inception" received eight nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards.

It eventually won four major awards: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects.

This time, the film was released six years earlier and was competing for the 77th Academy Awards.

According to data from the "super microcomputer", the big winner of this year's Oscars is "Million Dollar Baby" starring Morgan Freeman and others. It has a Douban score of 8.8 and has a good reputation.

Then, the film was remade into "2014 Dollar Love" in 32, telling the story of a -year-old "shut-in" who moved out of his home due to a conflict with his sister and encountered a series of setbacks, and finally changed himself through boxing.

This Japanese film has a Douban score of 8.3 and also won many awards in Japan including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress.

By 2024, Jia Ling invested 3.5 million yuan to remake it into "Hot and Spicy", which grossed 34.6 billion yuan during the Spring Festival, with a Douban score of 7.7. As for the reputation...

So, many things have to be explained by metaphysics, the same goes for box office results and awards.

"Inception" was released six years in advance, so it's hard to say how many Oscars it can win.

The best photography award this year went to "The Aviator" and the best visual effects award went to "Spider-Man 2", so the competition is pretty strong.

It is worth mentioning that "The Aviator" is starred by Leonardo Dicaprio, the original male lead of "Inception". The male lead Howard Hughes in the film is the prototype of "Iron Man", the soul figure of the Marvel Universe.

This year's Oscars are really worth looking forward to.

As for the award selection mechanism, it is also quite complicated.

There are no judges for the Academy Awards; all awards are voted on by the 6000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

To become a member of the Academy, one must be the most outstanding person in a certain field of film.

In general, recommendations from two members in the same field are also required.

As for award nominations, it is relatively easy.

The film only needs to be shown in commercial theaters in Los Angeles County for one week and then the relevant documents can be sent to the Academy, which does not cost anything.

As for special awards (such as Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects, etc.), they are voted by experts from different branches within the academy, and the five films with the most votes are nominated.

Once a film or filmmaker is nominated, all members of the Academy will vote to select the final winner.

The Best Picture award requires that the first place winner obtain more than half of the votes, using a "preferred voting system."

Other awards do not require a majority, and the winner is the one with the highest number of votes.

Therefore, if the votes are more dispersed, some films may win with 25% of the votes.

Then, many Academy members will find it strange that the vast majority of them did not vote for it.

So, there is room for maneuver in the Oscar awards.

Harvey Weinstein, the founder of Miramax, is a master among them. The films "My Left Foot" and "Cinema Paradiso" were Harvey's first tough battles in the "Oscar competition".

He persuaded the director and producer of "My Left Foot" to move directly from Ireland to Los Angeles, took them to various Hollywood parties, and tirelessly promoted his film.

At the same time, they sent people to keep an eye on every Oscar judge, desperate to let the judges see their movies. Harvey had screens erected in movie retirement homes, because many Oscar judges were living there, even though some of them were too old to take care of themselves.

Harvey even set up a screen on the beach in Hawaii, because many Oscar voters would vacation there during Christmas and New Year, and his lobbyists would always follow the voters.

In the end, the male lead of "My Left Foot" won the Best Actor award, and "Cinema Paradiso" also won the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

Because of his participation in the production and distribution of films, Harvey has been nominated for more than 300 Academy Awards and won more than 70 golden statues. He is regarded as the "Oscar God" by many filmmakers, and some domestic filmmakers are also superstitious about him.

Originally, he was in charge of the North American distribution of "Infernal Affairs", "Shaolin Soccer", "House of Flying Daggers", "Hero", "Kung Fu", and "The Grandmaster".

Thanks to his vigorous promotion, "The Grandmaster", "Farewell My Concubine" and "Hero" received attention from international awards and became the Chinese-language films closest to the Oscars.

However, Harvey's behavior is bad and his reputation is not good. Feng Xiaogang once denounced Harvey as a liar at a film festival.

His usual trick was to buy the North American distribution rights for Chinese-language films. He initially offered $800 million, and others stopped competing with him for the rights.

He gave you a deposit of $20, and when the filming was finished, he said he didn't want the movie anymore and wanted to return it. It was too late to sell it to someone else. Then he came back to you and offered you $100 million.

When The Matrix was released, Harvey also wanted to use this method to trick Jiang Heng, but he directly rejected it.

Upon hearing that Inception was going to be nominated for an Oscar, Harvey came over like a dog-skin plaster and tried to sell Jiang Heng his public relations methods, saying that the film would definitely win the award.

Jiang Heng never doubted Harvey's ability, but he was not satisfied with his character. After arriving in Los Angeles, he once again rejected Harvey's request to be his agent.

The latter was furious and threatened to make sure Jiang Heng won't win any Oscars this year.

How could Jiang Heng be frightened by him? He directly retorted, "If you make me lose everything, I will ruin your reputation."

Then, Harvey stopped.

He has done so many bad things that he is really afraid of being targeted by wealthy bosses.

Jiang Heng started to select another public relations team, but after hearing the quotation, he felt a headache.

Other film festivals usually have a few or a dozen judges selecting a certain award, so the public relations costs are lower.

In contrast, the Oscars have 6000 members voting, which seems more fair, but the actual result is increased public relations costs.

Especially for independent films with a cost of less than 30 million, an Oscar nomination often means millions or even tens of millions of dollars in box office revenue. Winning the award can further boost the box office and subsequent disc sales business. With too many film production companies involved in public relations, it has become a smoothly operating business model.

When Jiang Heng arrived here, he had to adapt to the local customs.

After communicating with several specialized operation teams, I finally chose a relatively reliable one, paid a deposit, signed a contract, and the team started operating.

"Inception" is a commercial blockbuster and is expected to rank fourth in the annual box office in North America.

But these box office revenues are basically contributed by young people, and many Academy members who participate in the Oscar selection are elderly people, many of whom may not have watched "Inception" in the cinema.

In order to win the votes of these people, the operation team specially sent people to nursing homes, Hawaiian beaches, winter ski resorts and other places frequented by Academy members to set up screens, in an effort to help "Inception" win an Oscar.

(End of this chapter)