This is going to be Boaty McBoatface all over again…
When will people learn, the internet simply cannot be trusted with an anonymous poll.
Back in 2016, the United Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) left it up to the public to vote for the name of their new £200 million polar scientific research ship, which is how we ended up getting Boaty McBoatface.
It actually resulted in term McBoatfacing, i.e. making the critical mistake of allowing the internet to decide the outcome of things, and the Academy Awards is making that same mistake all over again.
The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the Academy has begun a sort of online poll, where folk on Twitter can vote for their favourite movie by tweeting the title of the movie along with the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite.
The vote is open until Thursday, 3 March ahead of the full ceremony on Sunday, 27 March.
But perhaps the most important piece of information in the news is that fans can vote for the movie “regardless of if the film was nominated for an Oscar”.
While that might mean massively popular movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home could still walk away with some on Oscar night, what it will likely mean is that the whole thing will be getting McBoatfaced.
Now, we checked, but unfortunately Wild Mountain Thyme was released in December 2020, so that isn’t eligible.
But there were plenty of high profile movies that left audiences disappointed throughout 2021, and while the vote has only been open for a few hours, it already seems like there are three frontrunners for the prize.
At the moment, Spider-Man: No Way Home is sharing the spotlight with Zack Snyder’s Justice League (his version was officially released in March 2021) and The Suicide Squad:
Zack Snyders Justice League #OscarsFanFavorite pic.twitter.com/aGUWoUWkiU
— Alberto Diaz Otero (ADO) (@valiado69) February 14, 2022
THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021)
#OscarsFanFavorite pic.twitter.com/PECwzFbYL2— Carter 🦇 (@battinsongotham) February 14, 2022
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