Come on, Paramount. You can't be for real with this.
Around this time every year, all of the major Hollywood movie studios put together a handy-dandy collection of the films they think should be considered for Academy Award nominations. (They used to do this with printed materials, but nowadays it's all online.) There are always a few pie-in-the-sky suggestions from the studios, because there's big bucks on the line and you've got to stroke the egos of your biggest actors and directors.
This year, Paramount has taken the expression "pipe dream" to a grand new level of insanity. That's right: they've submitted Transformers: Age of Extinction for consideration as Best Picture. (It sits alongside other Best Picture suggestions like Noah and Interstellar.)
Let that sink in for a minute. "And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to... Transformers."
If you're having trouble making sense of this, don't worry. That's exactly the reaction you should be having.
Okay, so it was a good year for the Transformers. Domestically, Age of Extinction is the #5 top-grossing movie of the year, but at the global box office it tops the list with a haul in excess of $1 billion. That ain't nothing to sneeze at.
But the Academy has never, ever been impressed by box office receipts. There's a mindset among Academy members that Oscars should go to the best of the best, the elite, the films that qualify as art. Movies that will be celebrated as classics for many years to come.
Over at Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregated review score for Transformers: Age of Extinction is 18%. What more needs to be said?
That's okay, Paramount. You keep doing you. Drink that Kool-Aid. Don't let anyone tell you you're crazy.
