Oscar by the Numbers

Tonight is the Oscars, a night where our favorite actors get to have open mike night as themselves and not the characters they play in their movies. I expect it to be a very political sound off since many protestors of this administration were actors. It is also a night where the most profitable movies get to shine After all, making movies is a business too. Apple is investing in the movie business and analysts estimate that the computer and phone  company will win an Oscar within 5 years. Amazon produced the movie called Manchester by the Sea which is up for 6 awards including best picture. It will be the first contending movie made by a streaming company. Apple is now getting into original content like what we have seen Netflex and Amazon do over the last 10 years. How many places will we have to go to see a good movie?

We all know that the best movies are the ones that made the most money for their investors. Apple alone is investing $2 million in movies now and expect to invest billions of dollars in the next 5 years on movie projects. Is making movies that profitable a venture? Manchester by the Sea is already a box office winner making more than $60 million dollars so far. The movie called La La Land cost $30 million dollars to make and has already made $340 million dollars. The movie called Moonlight that cost only a $5 million dollar investment has made more than $22 million dollars. I guess making more than 4 times your investment would make any company start making movies.

Hundreds of millions of people will watch the award show tonight. The record length of time for Oscar nights is at 4hours 23minutes. Will they break the record for the longest event with all the political bashing we expect to witness tonight?  Each announced winner is allotted only 45 seconds to say whatever they want that begins from the moment they get out of their seat. They should all wear running sneakers instead of designer shoes. Can you walk, accept and say something of interest in just 45 seconds? That could be more challenging than the role they acted. Many actresses are called out to reveal the designer dress they have chosen to wear. Many actresses get paid up to six figures just to wear a particular designer for advertising all so well their designs to millions of fans. There are a lot of dollar numbers involved in award shows.

The 16,500 square foot $30,000 dollar red carpet that really isn’t red but is a burgundy to not distract from the designer dresses, is rolled out already. Over 300,000 Swarovsky crystals are being used to decorate the stage. Rolex is sponsoring the green room. Last year the Oscars were criticized for being too white. This year there are many black actors up for awards. There might even be a situation where three black actors could win awards which would be a record for the color chart of people. Denzel Washington is a contender for a best actor Oscar for his role in the movie called Fences. Mahershala Ali appears in only the first half hour of the movie called Moonlight. He is a contender in the best supporting actor Oscar. Octavia Spencer is nominated for best supporting actress for her work in the film called Hidden Figures. So go figure and just settle back and spend a night watching other people be happy or upset for real for a while.