When it was announced that there would be a new category at this year’s Oscars to recognize some fan favorites, the opportunity was quickly seen as a chance for Justice League supporters to finally get recognition for Zack Snyder’s cut of the movie. However, it soon became apparent that the movie was not eligible for the award, with only movies on a list of films that had first been released within the Oscar year being applicable for the award category. It was quickly expected that Spider-Man: No Way Home would be a strong contender to take this particular shout-out, but surprisingly it is the much derided Camila Cabello-starring Cinderella that has taken a massive lead in voting.However, the most passionate fans will always find a loophole somewhere when it comes to getting recognition for their idolized movies and filmmakers, and this has set up a final battle worthy of any action movie between the unlikely contenders of Prime Video’s Cinderella and Zack Snyder’s Netflix zombie heist movie Army of the Dead, with the out of favor Johnny Depp's movie Minamata coming up in third. It seems that while Justice League is not eligible for the Oscar Fan Favorite vote, Snyder’s epic zombie movie is, and his fans have quickly mobilized to use the film to get indirect redemption for the locking out of Justice League.
There is quite a gap to be bridged between the two movies before the voting ends on March 3rd, but with fans being able to vote up to 20 times a day, that is a lot of votes to go before the fight is over and the winner can be crowned. With both movies trending on social media, this is going to be a straight forward race to the finish between the fan bases of both movies, and there is no way to tell which way the result will go if Snyder’s fans pull in all their resources.
The Oscars Fan Favorite Battle Between Army of the Dead and Cinderella Shows The Gap Between The Academy and the Public
When the Oscar nominations for 2022 were announced, many popular movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home missed out on any of the big categories, which were instead crowded with the type of movie that comes up every year in the Best Actor, Actress, Director and Picture categories such as The Power of The Dog, West Side Story and Belfast. While these films are well-deserving of what is seen as the highest accolade in the industry, they don’t pull in audiences in quite the same way as other movies that are very often never featured in shortlists.
As Army of the Dead and Cinderella scrap it out for the consolatory Fan Favorite award, it is worth mentioning that neither movie received any nods in the other Oscar categories, and furthermore were both given a hard time by critics, with Army of the Dead faring best with a 67% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes against a less than spectacular 43% for Cinderella. However, both movies saw an uplift in reviews when it comes to viewing audiences, with Cinderella managing a moderate jump to 60%, and Snyder’s movie making it to 75%.
However, neither of these audience scores come close to the likes of Spider-Man: No Way Home, or even Minamata, which has been tracking third in the Fan Favorite vote thanks to Johnny Depp’s supporters wanting to see the star get his name back on the Academy’s lips following his recent legal battle with Amber Heard. It seems clear that the Academy’s decision to allow fans to have their say on the movies they wanted to see win prizes has become more about personal redemption than about the films that are topping the vote. How it all ends will be revealed after the closing of the vote early next month.