Oscars 2019: Predicting The 10 Best Popular Films Nominees

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences saw fit to announce a host of new additions to their regularly scheduled programming earlier this week, announcing some upcoming changes coming to the Oscars.

These included plans to keep the notoriously long awards program shorter in the coming years by choosing to not air key technical awards live on-air, and instead tape them during commercial breaks to re-air later in the program as a montage, as well as moving the ceremony itself to an earlier date, which the Academy seems to think will garner them better ratings.

But easily the most radical change announced is the introduction of a brand new category: a Best Popular Film category. Or, in their own words;

"A new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. Eligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming."

This is certainly no coincidence, seeing as the ceremony held earlier this year upheld the trend of each subsequent year's program sinking to new lows in the ratings. The Oscars are desperately attempting to figure out ways to get people to watch the show, and this is just the most recent in a long line of additions and gimmicks to attempt to accomplish that goal.

So with all of that in mind, let's take a look at what kind of films viewers can expect to see nominated in this new category. These are the ten most likely candidates to be the inaugural nominees for the Best Popular Film Oscar.

Ready Player One is the only Steven Spielberg movie of 2018 and that in and of itself will probably earn it a place in this category.

But that's not to say it doesn't earn it. The film is a joyful slice of action-adventure sci-fi that sees Spielberg making his first proper 'blockbuster' since 2005's War of the Worlds. It's chock-full of references, but amazingly, it never loses sight of its narrative amidst them. As Spielberg said at the film's premiere;

"The pop culture references can be seen out of your side windows, but if you look right out of the front windshield, you can follow the story."

And he isn't wrong. The story at the film's core is solid and there's no denying that Speilberg and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński pushed the boundaries of the film form, in terms of the movie's digital content. Key moments like the opening race or The Shining sequence are flat-out mesmerizing and full of 'how the f**k did they do that?' moments.

Honestly, any film that features Steven Spielberg taking on a Stanley Kubrick film is more than worht a nomination in this category.