Every North American awards season, the noise created by entertainment media far surpasses that of their peers, giving the illusion that the whole world seems to care about who takes home the Oscar statuette. But an illusion is still an illusion it doesn't change based on media or academy will. Let alone the European directors who wear their disdain on their foreheads and won't even give the Oscars a second glance, even many film fans in North America focus more on the films themselves.
Gravity has entered its second weekend of wide release. The attendance rate in North American theaters has slightly declined, but thanks to strong word of mouth, its second-weekend box office only dropped by thirty percent compared to the opening weekend, bringing in $57.37 million.
After ten days of release in North America, Gravity has already grossed $203.27 million.
Meanwhile, with $142.66 million earned from its first-week run across nearly seventy countries and regions in Latin America, Europe, and Australia, the film's global cumulative box office has reached $345.94 million.
As the film enters more international markets, this figure is expected to grow explosively.
At the same time, Panny Kallis and Warner Bros. have reached a critical stage in the publicity campaign for Gravity.
What Duke is slightly concerned about are Hollywood's anti-Semitic forces and conservatives. After all, no actress born in the 1980s has ever won an Oscar for Best Actress.
Given the influence of these people, a sudden upset wouldn't be surprising. The Oscars have had plenty of surprise wins over the years.
Hollywood does have anti-Semitic elements, but they're not mainstream and don't warrant too much concern. As for the conservatives, apart from Frank influencing a group of people, Duke has other tactics prepared.
The Academy has over six thousand voting members. In theory, being a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences signifies status and prestige, and they typically live comfortably. Private gifts may not have much effect.
But don't forget this is Hollywood. A place of glitz and vanity, where once-glorious young stars often end up bankrupt and destitute in old age. Countless famous names have suffered such fates. A prime example is Marlon Brando, a key Academy member, whose tragic later years are well-known.
These people may be conservative, but they're not fools and are more susceptible to influence.
For instance, two once-famous actors from decades ago now struggle to pay their medical bills, and a charity foundation steps in with an interest-free loan. They can repay it slowly with their monthly pensions.
Duke's team has compiled a detailed assessment and dossier for most of the key voters, including their preferences, thought patterns, favored film genres, and what tends to sway them.
Public relations is a deep science only by identifying the key points can one strike with precision.
The Oscars are like a grand, dazzling game. Every game has rules. But the binding power of the rules today is much weaker. If one still approaches PR like it was done in the '80s and '90s, they'll just watch the award fall into someone else's hands.
In addition to Panny Kallis and Warner Bros.' internal PR teams, Duke has also hired outside public relations firms.
Currently, the most renowned PR professional in Hollywood's awards circuit is Lisa Taback. Her previous position was head of PR at Miramax, and she famously helped Miramax push Shakespeare in Love to win the Oscar for Best Picture through a series of strategic moves one of her most iconic achievements.
She used to be Harvey Weinstein's right-hand woman and executor of all things PR.
But later, due to personal career development and intensifying conflict between the Weinstein brothers and Walt Disney, she left Miramax and founded a PR firm focused solely on awards season. Up to now, she's helped various film studios win over thirty Oscars and is extremely experienced.
Lisa Taback and her PR company are essentially an extra insurance policy Duke added for this year's Oscars.
Under Duke's instructions, Warner Bros. had already shipped out 100,000 deluxe DVDs well in advance to Academy voters and everyone involved with the Oscars. Along with the DVDs came all sorts of Gravity-branded memorabilia carefully crafted by Warner Bros. Though these trinkets aren't expensive, they're limited edition.
Of course, things like champagne, flowers, keepsakes, and other small gifts also kept coming in waves.
Even with all this, there's no guarantee that voters especially ones like Duke who vote with their feet will actually watch Gravity.
That's where Lisa Taback and her PR company come in.
Lisa was one of the earliest in Hollywood to adopt "phone banking" tactics. She and her team make daily calls to Academy members: "Did you watch the Gravity DVD we sent you? You really should this film is excellent."
Once they confirm the member has seen the film, they follow up with more calls: "Everyone's saying it's incredible. Don't you think Scarlett Johansson deserves an Oscar?"
In addition, Duke brought in a former White House public affairs director to oversee the PR side of things. They send emails to non-Warner media outlets praising Scarlett Johansson's acting brilliance and overall talent, hoping to 'brainwash' Academy members via media influence.
According to statistics gathered by a professional firm hired by Duke, of the nearly 6,000 Academy voters, the average age is 65. Only 12% are under the age of 50. Of all members, 95% are white, and 77% are male.
This means that to win an Oscar, one must appeal primarily to the tastes of older white male voters, who form the overwhelming majority.
Qualifying a film for nomination is quite easy. Besides the formal application, it only needs to be screened for a week in a commercial theater in Los Angeles County and then have the necessary documents submitted to the Academy.
Besides the traditional DVD mailers to voters, giving gifts, phone-banking, holding private screenings, and other tactics are excellent for securing votes. Even though gift-giving and phone-bombing are officially banned by the Academy, they're impossible to eradicate. Practically every studio with ambitions including Duke's is still using them.
Duke realized early on the media's power in shaping public and Academy opinion. From the beginning, he focused on building up the film's and Scarlett's reputations. He not only actively refuted attacks but also relentlessly smeared their top competitors.
But all that is still far from enough. One after another, frame-by-frame screenings are held in Los Angeles under the steady flow of Duke's money. These are extremely high-end, lavish parties, most importantly fully open and free to Academy members.
While Gravity dominates with massive hard advertising, Duke's team invites voters to countless free upscale cocktail parties, hosts private screenings with celebrity attendance, and buys out multiple entertainment media columns for intense coverage of their film.
Lisa Taback's company sent a "For Your Consideration" email to The Hollywood Reporter subscribers, quoting a senior member of the Academy: "Actors born after 1980 have been ignored for too long. Scarlett Johansson's performance in Gravity definitely deserves a win!"
All of this was skirting the edge of the rules, but most of Hollywood was doing the same. If the Academy wanted to crack down, they wouldn't go after a high-profile project. Otherwise, last year's The Hurt Locker wouldn't have won Best Picture either.
John Erickson was a retired actor living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and also a senior member of the Academy. He had just gotten out of bed and hadn't had breakfast yet when he received a phone call from Los Angeles.
"Is this Mr. John Erickson?"
The voice on the other end was clear and pleasant, quickly dispelling any annoyance John Erickson felt. After he gave a short reply, the caller offered a few polite greetings and went straight to the point.
"Did you receive the Gravity disc?"
Hearing that, John Erickson immediately recalled a package he had received some time ago. There was indeed such a disc in it, but at the time, he had focused more on the exquisite gifts that came with the package and hadn't paid much attention to the disc itself.
"Yes, I received it," he replied.
The voice on the other end immediately asked, "Have you watched the disc yet?"
"Sorry, I haven't gotten around to it."
"Could you please watch it as soon as possible?"
Listening to that soft and gentle urging voice, and thinking of those seemingly insignificant yet finely crafted gifts, John Erickson quickly agreed, "I'll watch it today."
John Erickson didn't have anything important to do anyway. After hanging up, he went to the storage room, retrieved the finely produced disc, put it into the DVD player, and patiently started watching.
That afternoon, the phone call from Los Angeles came again. Upon hearing that John Erickson had already watched the disc, the caller asked him a few questions about his viewing experience, and then emphasized Scarlett Johansson's outstanding performance in the film.
"A strong woman who overcame countless obstacles to portray such an excellent role. Mr. Erickson, don't you think she was wonderful? I hope this performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination."
Whether it was coincidence or inevitability, the next day, Mr. John Erickson took out his Oscar ballot and began filling it out as usual. But when he reached the section for Best Actress, he chose Scarlett Johansson's name without hesitation. For Best Director, he selected Duke Rosenberg even though before the phone call, he had barely heard of Gravity, and had originally thought it was a Sylvester Stallone movie.
.....
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