Spider-Man: No Way Home was left out of the Best Picture contender at this year’s Oscars because of Kevin Smith’s disapproval.
Smith, Kevin Spider-Man, You’re Not Going Back
While most media outlets are focused on the discussion over whether or not Spider-Man: No Way Home should have been included in the Best Picture category for the 94th Academy Awards, ABC will broadcast the ceremony on March 27th. Even indie filmmaker Kevin Smith has expressed his displeasure at being left out of contention for the prestigious Academy Award for best picture. Since its premiere in December, Spider-Man: No Way Home has received positive reviews and grossed $760.5 million at the domestic box office, making it the third highest-grossing film in the country’s history, passing Avatar in 2009. At $1.8 billion worldwide, Marvel Studios and Sony’s collaboration is the sixth-highest grossing movie of all time. In 2019, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker became the first billion-dollar picture to cross the billion-dollar mark at the global box office. One Oscar nomination in the Visual Effects category came despite the film’s worldwide and domestic popularity.
SPOILER ALERT: Avatar has been overtaken by Spider-Man No Way Home at the US box office.
In Smith’s opinion, Spider-Man: No Way Home deserved more recognition than it received for its innovative work. In his Fatman Beyond podcast, Smith aired his displeasure with the Academy Awards’ decision, and he didn’t hold back in his criticism of it. “What the f—?” Smith screamed when he learned that the picture had been overlooked for Best Picture at the Oscars. This is the biggest f—–g movie in like the last three years, and they can’t give it a slot? According to Smith, the ceremony’s ratings have declined dramatically in the last two years as a result of the absence.
“Afterwards, they ask,
Why does nobody watch this show A populist choice, like f—–g. How many seats do you have? For God’s sake, throw in Spider-Man; let him swing in there “”Smith” stated. As many movies as they’ve nominated for Best Picture, I’m not even being facetious about it….” According to Smith, recent years have seen a shift in the amount of films eligible for inclusion in the category. The number of nominations was increased from five to ten in order to include a wider range of films. In the Best Picture category, only Black Panther, a Marvel project, is up for consideration, underscoring the genre’s lingering negative connotations.
In spite of this, Smith’s feelings towards Spider-Man:
No Way Home are not unique and are shared by others who share the same sentiments. On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jimmy Kimmel recently expressed his displeasure with the ceremony’s controversial choice, citing the film’s growing financial success. As for the nomination of Don’t Look Up over Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jimmy Kimmel was perplexed, saying that the Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio film was no better than the newest outing of the web-slinging hero. Finally, Seth Rogen emphasised his disdain in the awards presentation itself, underlining the fact that people have ceased caring about the Oscars and have done so for a long time now.. As a remedy for dissatisfaction, the Academy has instituted a fan-voted award category. The #OscarsFanFavorite hashtag is now live on Twitter, allowing moviegoers to vote for their favourite 2021 release they think deserves to receive the fan favourite award. Voting will be open until March 3rd. Spider-Man: No Way Home’s chances of winning the award are slim, but at least it has the opportunity to be recognised for its popularity. This category has a caveat, however, in that any movie released in 2021 can win votes in it, opening the possibility to criticism if Spider-Man: No Way Home doesn’t receive the respect it rightfully deserves.