JOHN NOLTE: How Woke Hollywood Killed the ‘Oscar Movie.’
Here is the domestic box office for this year’s titles enjoying the most Oscar talk.
• Till – $8.7 million
• The Banshees of Inisherin – $7.9 million
• TÁR – $5.1 million
• She Said – $4.3 million
• Triangle of Sadness – $4 million
• Bones and All – $3.8 million
• The Fabelmans – $3.5 million
• Armageddon Time – $1.9 million
• Aftersun – $756,000Top Gun: Maverick and Everything Everywhere All at Once might be nominated, but their status as box office successes had nothing to do with Oscar talk. If anything, it’s the other way around: their box office success won them some Oscar heat.
The most shocking title on that list is The Fabelmans. Those of us of a certain age can remember when Oscar talk around a Steven Spielberg movie would have had people flocking to theaters, especially over Thanksgiving weekend (when Fabelmans opened). Spielberg guaranteed that magic cinematic experience we all crave.
There are only two movies on that list I’m interested in seeing: TAR, for sure, and The Banshees of Inisherin. Other than that? Nope, nope, nope… Life’s too short, and I have too many Blurays sitting around.
So why are these movies flopping?
Short version: They aren’t entertaining.
Hollywood has gone from “Let us entertain you” to “Sit down and eat your peas.”
And the peas are spoiled.