Could the Academy’s Best Picture eligibility shake-up have a ripple effect on the pond?
In recent years, the Oscars and BAFTAs have attempted to align as closely as possible on key industry issues, such as a diverse voting body and representative nominee pool. But when it comes to the theatrical release requirements for best picture, there might be a difference of thought.
Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed a host of new theatrical release requirements for films to qualify as top nominees for the 2025 Oscars. one of six U.S. markets, films released in 2024 will also require an extended theatrical release of seven days, consecutive or non-consecutive, in 10 of the top 50 U.S. markets, no later than 45 days after its initial release.
The Academy’s raison d’être is to promote a healthy theatrical environment and to improve exposure and accessibility for award nominees in the United States.
This same drive has been pervasive in the UK, with continued campaigns by the UK Cinema Association and the British Film Institute to bring audiences back to cinemas post-pandemic. But new theatrical requirements won’t be part of BAFTA’s rulebook for the foreseeable future, Variety can reveal.
BAFTA – which will publish its criteria for next year’s awards in the coming weeks – will keep its 2023 film rules in place for the 2024 film awards in February. This makes sense given that films are eligible from January 1, 2023 and we are already six months away for eligible releases this year. However, sources say the film’s organization has yet to commit to any changes for the 2025 awards. next six months to meet the 2025 award eligibility period from January 1, 2024.)
Under existing BAFTA rules, films are eligible to take part in the awards if they have been “first shown theatrically publicly for the first time to paying audiences on at least 10 commercial screens in the UK for at least seven days in total (not including festival screenings).” There are even more flexible selection thresholds for the Outstanding British Debut, Documentary and Non-English Film categories.
Although a direct comparison between the US and UK theatrical markets is difficult to draw given the former’s vast geography, some critics of the existing BAFTA criteria have pointed to the lack of safeguards in place to ensure qualifying screenings are not not simply relegated. in London. These concerns come at a time when the UK entertainment industry is moving away from the historically London-focused media world and expanding more aggressively into nations and regions, which include Scotland, Northern Ireland , Wales and other parts of England such as the East Midlands and Yorkshire.
Netflix’s war epic “All Quiet on the Western Front” won seven BAFTAs this year.
©Reiner Bajo
A senior exposure source cites Netflix’s Best Picture BAFTA win for ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ as an example. The German-language epic of World War I topped the 2023 film awards with a record seven wins, including best director and best non-English language film.
Variety understands that the film only opened in 10 cinemas in the UK and the majority of them were in London. (Sources close to Netflix said the film has also played elsewhere in England as well as Ireland.) Data seen by Variety suggests that the film averaged just one show a day, over two weeks, before it premiered on Netflix on October 28.
The film is believed to eventually play in over 200 individual cinemas across the UK and Ireland, although these screenings largely took place after the January 19 BAFTA nominations, when it is common for films return to theaters for certain screenings.
“It’s a bit of a blow when you give a movie a Best Picture award when no one has had a chance to see it. [in cinemas]“said the source of the exposure. “That’s not true. The concept that it’s important for a film to get a wide release and be seen by customers is important and the BAFTAs haven’t figured that out yet.
Phil Clapp, CEO of the UK Cinema Association, says Variety that the “danger with the current ‘low bar’ here and elsewhere is that eligibility is open to films that few or no members of the public will get to see.”
“Thus, any consideration on their merits or otherwise is then inevitably confined to a small, select group, losing the relatability that is essential for any rewards program to remain relevant,” he adds.
On the other hand, theatrical screenings organized for BAFTA members can have a galvanizing effect on the conduct of votes. Paul Brett, executive producer of Oscar and BAFTA-winning ‘The King’s Speech, is looking forward to the big-screen experience, as well as the BAFTA-filled screening and Q&A he attended from “All Quiet on the Western Front”.
Brett said Variety: “I feel privileged to have been able to discover the superb craftsmanship of this film in the best possible conditions.”
“I’m sure BAFTA will consider [The Academy’s] measures – and may well adapt them to the UK market,” adds Brett. “I see no need to rush into panic measures because the BAFTA regulations, as they stand, seem quite fit for purpose.”
For now, all is quiet on the BAFTA front so far. (The British Academy declined to comment for this story.) That’s not to say, however, that everyone is happy with the organization’s wait-and-see approach.
The UKCA says it is “very favorable” to the changes announced across the Atlantic by the Academy. The new rules, Clapp says, are “definitely a step forward in re-establishing the importance of a theatrical release to Oscar relevance and timeliness.”