Weekend Box Office: Everyone Drinks, Nobody Wins

I think it’s safe to say Summer is officially over at the box office folks. After a dismal weekend of returns for new films like Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night, I, for one, am ready for the Fall onslaught of Oscar contenders. Although Fright Night was a real treat, and I’m disappointed it’s not getting the attention it deserves. There’s nary a glittery vamp in sight, I promise! Go see it!

A sampling of the Box Office (Box Office Mojo):

The Help with $20 Million

Planet of the Apes with $16 Million

Spy Kids with $12 Million

Conan the Barbarian with $10 Million

Fright Night with $8.3 Million

One Day with $5.1 Million

Quick Take: New Best Picture Rules (Again!)

We here at Filmhash are huge Oscar buffs, so we wanted to share our quick reaction to the Oscars news.

As Cinemablend reports, the Academy has made it so there could be anywhere from 5 to 10 films nominated for Best Picture:

The new selection method will work as follows: when the list of eligible films are sent out to voters, only those with at least 5% of first place votes will be included as nominees for the award. While the release doesn’t mention the possibility, one can assume that five is the minimum number of nominees, meaning that even if only four films get 5% of the first place votes, the film with the highest number of votes without reaching 5% will still be included.

It’s a strange move, as we enjoyed having a big group of nominees. Overall, though, it’s kind of sad that even the Academy thinks there may not be 10 films in a year worth the distinction, but this change will have even less impact on who the winner will be than the expansion to 10.