The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released their nominations for the 92nd annual Academy Awards on Jan. 13. Over the years more people have started to watch the so-called “Oscar-bait” movies. Due to this, the Academy has attempted to consider more mainstream movies by nominating the box-office hit “Black Panther” for Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. However, as they attempt to reach out to the average movie-going audience, they prove time and time again that they are out of touch with the audience.

A few years ago, the #oscarssowhite trended worldwide, causing a large controversy due to the lack of diverse nominees. The Academy has attempted to be more “diverse” in recent years, which is not proving successful. For the second year in a row, there were no female directors nominated in the Best Director category. Coincidentally, Greta Gerwig was snubbed for consecutive years. In 2018, Gerwig’s film “Lady Bird” received 41 overall nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nomination. However, Gerwig was overlooked for best director in place of five male directors. For a second year Gerwig directed an Oscar favorite movie “Little Women” which also was nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, yet Gerwig was once again snubbed for a nomination in place of five male directors. The Academy seems to overlook female directors when it comes to picking the nominees.

The Academy not only continues to have diversity problems, it’s also out of touch with the general movie-going audience. Last year we saw the release of one of the highest grossing A24 films “Uncut Gems.” The film saw Adam Sandler turn in arguably the best performance of his career. Going into the announcement last week, Sandler was one of the favorites to not only get nominated, but take home the Best Actor award at this year’s Oscars. Instead Adam Sandler was snubbed, garnering much criticism from movie fans. Although the film was not loved by audiences, everyone agreed that Sandler turned in an Oscar-worthy performance. 

This is just one of the many examples of the Academy snubbing movies/actors that were not only critical hits, but also hits with the general movie-going audience. In the Best Animated Feature Film category, the Disney hit “Frozen 2” did not get a nomination, despite carrying a 7% higher verified fan rating on Rotten Tomatoes than its predecessor (which won the award in 2014). One of the films that got the nomination over “Frozen 2” was “Missing Link” starring Hugh Jackman. Although gaining an 89% rating from critics, the film received a 66% from fans. 

A few other popular snubs this year were Jennifer Lopez for Best Supporting Actress in “Hustlers,” the film “Farewell,” which was praised at the BAFTAs and Golden Globes, did not pick up a single nomination, and Eddy Murphy’s “Dolemite is My Name.” These were all popular films that join the long list of Oscar snubs from the last few weeks. It seems obvious that, especially in the last few years, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is simply out of touch with the general movie-going audience.