Last week after the Golden Globes, the Broadcast Critics Choice, and all the city critics awards were announced, it seemed like The Social Network was unstoppable in the Best Picture category. Things took a turn for the worst for the Facebook followers when The King's Speech (albeit, the slightly better film) took the prize at the Producers Guild Awards (also the winner of the animated category was Toy Story 3 as expected).
The King's Speech is also more of the Oscar's type of film: rave reviews, british, period piece with grand sets and costumes, a royal, overcoming a disability, A-List Cast with 3 acting nods locked; if The Social Network hadn't won everything critic-wise, The King's Speech would be called a lock for the win. The Producers Guild is a very important persecutor: It helped The Hurt Locker beat Avatar last year; Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men also triumphed due to it.
And there's no denying that the Harvey Weinstien hasn't done it before i.e. Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan. Weinstien, himself, even said that SiL won because of good campaigning. The Social Network is also a very contemporary piece. How many people are going to be jumping out of their seats when they hear that a movie about Facebook won the top prize?
However, The King's Speech is nowhere a lock; most people are probably still predicting The Social Network (I myself thought the race was over after it won over The King's Speech at the Globes, though the Globe winner usually differs from the Academy's pick). And Producers guild is important, but doesn't always match 100% with the overall choice.
Whoever wins at SAG in exactly 7 days will tell us. The SAG is usually a big indicator, as well, unless the guild actually does what they are supposed to and vote for the best ensemble, not the best film. The King's Speech has Firth, Rush, and Carter who are enough to award the prize as apposed to the youngsters of The Social Network.
Or maybe Black Swan, Inception, or The Fighter will upset both of them in the final week for top honors, we never know!
On another note, people were shocked out of their seats last year when The Blind Side replaced my best of 2009, Nine in the Best Picture category. It was obviously only there because the Academy was trying to improve ratings and Blind Side won over people's hearts at the Box Office...enough to give Bullock the win over Meryl Streep. So, the Oscar Buzz board is asking themselves, who is the surprise box office boost this year?
My answer: Alice in Wonderland. It did get a Best Picture nomination (and the supposed runner-up) at the Golden Globes. Earning over 1 billion at the box-office worldwide, Alice comes from the acclaimed filmmaker, Tim Burton, and stars Johnny Depp (in a Golden Globe nominated role) and Helena Bonham Carter (who is also a contender this year for King's). Alice is more than likely getting nominations in Art Direction, Costume Design, Make-Up, and Visual Effects, with a Original Score nomination as a possibility, as well. I'm not calling it a lock, but I wouldn't be surprised if Alice becomes a six-time Academy Award nominated film.
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