Are Oscar campaigns worth the time and money?

A review of the box-office numbers suggests an ‘Oscar bump’ in ticket sales for nominees is not guaranteed.

Journalists and presenters prepare on the red carpet area for this year's Oscars Awards ceremony in Hollywood. Picture: AFP

In Los Angeles, signs are everywhere of the millions of dollars movie studios spend campaigning for their most prestigious films to win Academy Awards.

Billboards bearing Glenn Close’s pained grimace in The Wife are erected outside the neighbourhood grocery store. Luncheon after luncheon is served with Ryan Gosling on hand. Two kilogram coffee-table books offering behind-the-scenes photographs on the making of Roma are shipped across town.

Is all the time and money spent on these campaigns worth it?

A review of the box-office numbers suggests an “Oscar bump” in ticket sales for nominees is not guaranteed.

Of the best-picture nominees still in theatres when the nominations were announced on January 22, Green Book has had the most significant box-office boost. Its gross has gone from a so-so $US42.9 million ($60m) on the day of nominations to a healthy $US66.9m. Most other nominees saw nominal increases. (Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody were already some of the highest-grossing movies ever nominated for best picture but were no longer in significant release at the time of the nominations.)

With no assurance of making more money at the box office, the cottage industry of Oscar campaigning largely comes down to one thing: keeping stars happy.

Studios often mount expensive campaigns to signal to their A-list directors and stars that they have their backs — and should therefore be the studio where they make their next movie. In the calculus of Hollywood moviemaking, keeping a marquee director like Christopher Nolan happy can be an executive’s No 1 priority, since losing out on his next movie could mean losing some $US500m in box-office grosses.

A typical campaign can cost between $US3m and $US5m, an awards consultant said, though some have cracked an estimated $US20m. Among the costliest in recent history: The Social Network, released by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and this year’s Roma, which used its awards push to also market a movie that Netflix hoped would lead to more subscription sign-ups. If a movie is currently in theatres while the awards season is underway, studios can use television commercials and print advertisements to market the film for general audiences and Oscar voters at the same time.

The campaign involves more than just advertising costs: To maintain momentum, studios shuttle stars and directors to numerous events in Los Angeles, New York and London so nominees can get in front of as many Academy members as possible.

The campaigns are managed by an army of awards-season consultants, who duke it out year after year. Victory is lucrative. Securing a best-picture win for a client often means a six-figure bonus for the consultant.

Awards shows themselves have become a questionable business. In January, both the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards had their smallest TV audiences ever, and ratings for the Academy Awards have declined 40 per cent in the past five years.

Studio executives grumble about the awards-season slog, which begins in September at the Toronto International Film Festival and continues through the Oscars in late February.

It’s not just the expense, but the lost time, two executives said. While studio employees are busy organising receptions celebrating Vice or commissioning favourable op-eds about A Star Is Born, January and February releases are hitting theatres and require their own marketing campaigns.

The awards-season months become an all-hands-on-deck affair at studios. Comcast’s Universal Pictures, the studio behind Green Book, for instance, also hosted several screenings and receptions for its Neil Armstrong space drama First Man in November, while also managing the release of movies like Glass and Happy Death Day 2U.

It all proved to be for nought, at least as far as awards go. First Man failed to secure any major nominations.