The Academy Is Finally Making Sure Members Will Have Seen The Movies They Are Voting For

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SOURCE - The Academy is tightening its procedures around Oscars voting, with a new set of rules approved Monday by the group's Board of Governors.

In a significant change to its pre-voting standards, the Academy will now require members to "watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars," according to a press release.

It's pathetic that this rule even has to be in place. If you are in the Academy and choose to vote, why wouldn't you watch the movies that are nominated? No one is forcing you to vote.

I know some people will see this and angrily say "Awards don't matter!". That's perfectly fine if that's your opinion. I like the Oscars a lot and find the nominations to be an interesting time capsule for movies. Are they perfect? Fuck, no. Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas didn't win Best Picture. The Dark Knight was never even nominated!

If you can accept that they aren't perfect and the generally choose good movies, then the Oscars can have some meaning. If you just blindly hate movie awards for whatever reason, then this whole topic might not be for you. But then you are the same person who would hate NASCAR but click on a racing blog to bitch.

Now, I'll join in on the complaining when I see shit like this:

SOURCE - Many Academy members have long been open about not having seen multiple films heading into the final round of voting — including several voters who spoke with EW anonymously ahead of the 2025 ceremony.

"I'm bummed because I haven't seen The Substance or I'm Still Here yet. The first Dune, I couldn't get through; I'm not rushing for another three hours of Dune. There's still time to re-evaluate, but I really struggled," one director told us, while a casting director added: "I haven’t seen The Brutalist yet. I’m planning to see it, and from what little I saw [already], it’s similar to The Pianist, and [Adrien Brody] already got his Oscar for that. So, maybe someone else deserves a chance [for Best Actor]."

Come on. You're being asked to watch movies. It's not like you have to work in a coal mine. Even my scrawny ass is going to every movie this year* to review them. This person only has to watch 10 movies. I get that Dune isn't for everyone (I liked it personally) but even if you're not a fan of the story, the visuals are amazing. Just sit back and enjoy that element. You can't criticize a movie if you haven't seen all of it.

*In a thousand screens or more. May sound like a lot of screens but I still had to sit through shit like Love Hurts, In The Lost Lands and The Unbreakable Boy.

I guess the big question is if this makes the Oscars better. I hope so. If a voter is this anti-Dune, are they going to like Dune 2 if they are forced to watch it? I guess it helps in the off-chance they like the sequel but I suppose if anything, they may broaden the horizons of the academy and get them out of their comfort zones.

Finally, I think I should get an Oscar vote for having to sit through In The Lost Lands. That movie was ass.