10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About 2014 Movies

3. Selma Wasn't Planned As An Oscar Movie

After The Lego Movie not even getting nominated for Best Animated Feature, the biggest perceived Oscar snub was that of Selma, which got a Best Picture nomination and little else. The whole race debate is an important one (both in terms of movies being ignored and of them being praised above their station just for coming from a minority filmmaker), but the real reason for Selma's poor show is something much more typical of Oscar politics. It's hard to believe given that it's the first dramatisation of Martin Luther King's life, but up until a couple of months ago Selma wasn't an awards contender. Oh, it had strong critical and commercial prospects, but for some reason nobody up at Paramount thought they were handling something all that special. It was only in mid-November, when it got a standing ovation at AFI Fest, that the distributor began to push the film for gold. It was all too late, however - the free screeners sent to all members of the Academy weren't released in time and thus no real momentum could be built. So really, Selma's perceived disappointment is less to do with some racist agenda in the Academy and more to do with a studio unable to predict an audience reaction. Move along, nothing new to see here.