Oscar Ratings down 6% from a year ago...

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » March 1st, 2005, 1:49 am

From Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... _ratings_2

The ratings for Sunday's (2/27/05) Academy Awards ceremony were down 6% from a year before.

Although gains were made in the "ever-important" 18-34 year-old demographic, ratings were still down.

The estimated US audience was just under 42 million, but still down roughly 2 million from a year before.

Ratings were higher in the big city markets but the overall lack of enthusiam from rural markets dragged the ratings down.

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Anybody else notice that the only $100 million+ money grossers nominated in non-technical categories were the ANIMATED features?

Seriously, NONE of the 3 big live-action contenders (Ray, The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby) and their competitors were big movies.

Most Americans have NOT seen any of those films.

Far more people went to the animated features but for the most part those films are ghettoized within their separate category. They'll never get respect from the larger artistic community regardless of whether they have their own Oscar or not.

It's amazing that the most popular films up for Oscars Sunday were the animated features. Just goes to show how out of touch the Hollywood crowd is with middle America...

Post by **Special_Ed** » March 1st, 2005, 2:16 pm

You know though, this is more BS. The Oscars were down even more nation wide but the numbers being reported only reflect urban viewers.

Post by **AniMan** » March 1st, 2005, 3:54 pm

Well, ya know, it's still just an awards show. A big awards show, but still just an awards show. I don't think it has very much significance in the average person's life whatsoever. I could care less if their ratings were through the roof or in the cellar. If there is a movie or an actor or actress that I want to see get their due, then I watch. If not, then I don't care. That simple. Nothing to pitch a fit over, to be certain.

Post by **askmike1** » March 1st, 2005, 9:14 pm

If Oscar wants viewership to go up, they are going to need to nominate films people know in the major categories. However, they should nominate multiple big films (so there isn't another LotR type sweep).

Either way though, Oscar is still the 2nd most watched show in the US (behind the superbowl) and I believe it's the most watched program in the world.
-69.94 million viewers watched at least 6 minutes of the show
-The Oscars delivered its highest ratings in 3 years among Adults 18-34, Women 18-49 and Women 18-34
-The Oscars averaged almost the same audience as The Grammys, the Golden Globes and the Peoples Choice Rewards combined.

Post by **Special_Ed** » March 2nd, 2005, 12:37 am

Hollywood also needs to start making films people WANT to go out and see.

AS already said, Oscar has become completely political. That's to bad.

Post by **AniMan** » March 2nd, 2005, 12:02 pm

Special_Ed wrote:Hollywood also needs to start making films people WANT to go out and see.

AS already said, Oscar has become completely political. That's to bad.

They actually do make films people want to see: and they're mostly animated!

Of course, as we all know, animation is still the red-headed step child (my apologies to all you red-heads; I love red-heads! Nuff said!

) of the film world. A lot of the best films today are animated, audiences flock to see them, and yet the Academy chose to create a whole separate category for it instead of giving animation its due respect.
Why can't an animated film be deemed worthy of the Best Picture of the year? If it is, it is! But, as was said in one of my favorite movies, Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Post by **Special_Ed** » March 2nd, 2005, 3:34 pm

"They actually do make films people want to see: and they're mostly animated!"

I was talking live action films.

Most of the films nominated bombed and other films were outright snubbed. There is something said for not basing nomination on ticket sales but I think a lot of films are snubbed because of how well they do.

I think the Academy fears an animated film winning best picture, hence the new category. The same is true for sci-fi and fantasy films. Lord of the Rings won because if it had lost there would have been an outcry over the snubbing.

The Oscars don't recognize stuntmen either. Isn't that unjust? They're the one group that puts their lives on the line to make a film and there is no award to recognize their eforts. Strange, no? Again, it's all politics.

Post by **askmike1** » March 2nd, 2005, 3:42 pm

Special_Ed wrote:Hollywood also needs to start making films people WANT to go out and see.

They have (and I mean live action too). Last year, 4 films made over $200m (Harry Potter, Spider Man2,Passion, & Fockers) & an additional 14 made over $100. Also, in 2002, the top 7 films all made over $200m and none were animated. Obviously, people liked these films a lot and wanted to see them. That said, animation is still huge. After all, most of the top 10 films last year were either animated or CG heavy films.

Post by **Dacey** » March 5th, 2005, 1:15 pm

Me, I just love the Oscars. And this happened to be a very strong movie year, so it was a great show. The only thing that bothered me was that it seemed shorter than other years.

Post by **Ben** » March 5th, 2005, 3:53 pm

It was shorter than other years.

With all the short cuts, the actual show came in at just over two and a half hours, minus commercials (and even three and a half with), so it was way shorter than the four and five hour marathons of old.

Post by **Dacey** » March 6th, 2005, 1:21 pm

Wow. Now I know that I could've taped the whole show.

Post by **Ben** » March 8th, 2005, 11:15 am

I have 'em on tape going back to 1987/88, though gawd knows where those tapes are!

Post by **James** » March 8th, 2005, 12:19 pm

Ben wrote:I have 'em on tape going back to 1987/88, though gawd knows where those tapes are!

Geeks of a feather! Though I stopped a few years ago, my tapes from around 1990 are somewhere in the garage!

Post by **Ben** » March 9th, 2005, 9:23 am

Darn... we are just TOO much alike, Mr James...

Post by **Dacey** » March 10th, 2005, 5:33 pm

We usually just tape the awards that have movies that we're familer with nominated for them. But this year, that was a *lot* of awards. Almost the whole show, but not quite. And we always tape the Best Song nominees.