Oscars Shake Up Voting in the Best International Feature Film Category
New rules in what used to be Best Foreign Language Film will allow all members to choose the five nominees, and will permit streaming for the first time ever in the category
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has dramatically expanded the second round of voting for its Best International Feature Film award, the category formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film.
In emails that went to three different groups of members on Thursday, AMPAS announced that for the first time, all Academy members will be able to cast ballots to narrow down the 10 shortlisted films to five nominees, provided they have seen all 10 films on the shortlist.
In addition, members will be able to view those 10 films by streaming them on the Academy’s secure members’ website. This is a dramatic change in a category that until now had insisted that voters see films in a theater in the nominating round.
The change could allow far more voters to participate in choosing the five nominees. It could also dramatically lessen the importance of the category’s executive committee, which was created more than a decade ago to prevent the kind of embarrassing oversights that once plagued the category.
“We want to be as inclusive as we can,” International Feature Film Award Executive Committee co-chair Larry Karaszewski told TheWrap. “The films are so strong and so good that it seems unfair to limit voting to the people in New York and Los Angeles.”
The current three-step nominating process in the category was created in 2007, after a year in which volunteers from all branches of the Academy (the “general committee”) viewed all the eligible films but failed to nominate or even shortlist many of the year’s most celebrated films from overseas — including “Persepolis,” “Silent Light,” “The Orphanage” and, most egregiously, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu‘s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.”
A new process was designed in which the general committee would still view all the eligible films at official Academy screenings, but would only select six of the nine films on the shortlist. The hand-picked executive committee would then add three more, focusing on the kind of challenging films that might have been overlooked by the general committee.
Then three Phase 2 committees — 20 members in Los Angeles, 10 in New York and 10 in London — would watch the nine shortlisted films (which has been expanded to 10 this year) over a three-day period and choose the five nominees.
Because the Phase 2 committees were largely hand-picked and tended to have adventurous taste, their selections often seemed to be heavy on the films that had been “saved” and put on the shortlist by the executive committee. (The Academy never reveals which shortlisted films were general-committee selections and which were exec-committee saves — but, for example, “Son of Saul” and “The Great Beauty” were widely whispered to be saves that went on to win the Oscar.)
In recent years, the Academy has gradually opened up voting in the category to more members. Two years ago, Phase 2 voting was extended to any members who wanted to participate in L.A., N.Y. and London, and to international members who were allowed to stream the shortlisted films rather than seeing them in theaters.
And last year, all L.A.-based members who’d taken part in the first round of voting were invited to vote in Phase 2 as well, providing they’d seen all the shortlisted films in theaters.
“We allowed international members to stream films on the shortlist,” Karaszewski said. “That went so well, and we already have the system set up for streaming, that we’ve decided to open up the short list to all Academy members everywhere.”
Karaszewski’s co-chair, Diane Weyermann, added that the change was also being made in recognition of the shorter voting period necessitated by an Oscar show that is taking place two weeks earlier than usual.
“We’re doing it with a very, very tight nomination voting period,” she said. “We will still have theatrical screenings of the 10 shortlisted films in L.A. and New York and London, but not everyone is going to be able to see those 10 films in a theater. People that may have seen all of the films except one, but maybe they’re not around on that one day for the screening — if we didn’t allow the streaming to happen, they wouldn’t be able to vote.”
By opening up the final stage of nomination voting to a wider group and taking that choice out of the hands of carefully selected committees, the Academy could well find that the artier, more challenging films that are saved will become nominees less often. With Phase 2 voting opened up to all international members last year, for instance, it seems likely that for the first time ever, the nominated films included five of the six general committee choices and not a single save.
And now the Academy has gone even further down that road. Voters who do the heavy lifting by seeing all the eligible films (a record 93 this year) can no longer complain about being cut out of the process after the shortlist — but as their importance increases, the executive committee responsible for some of the most acclaimed nominees may sometimes find its role reduced to simply putting quality films on a shortlist where voters can overlook them once again.
The category already has a new name this year, but that might be the least of its changes.
15 Highest-Grossing American Remakes of Foreign Films, From 'Godzilla' to 'The Departed' (Photos)
The Swedish film "Force Majeure" was a critically acclaimed darling but not exactly a box office hit. So there was an opportunity to take the film's black humor and install the American charms of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell to see how it might fare commercially in "Downhill," opening this weekend. But surprisingly, even box office hits abroad don't always translate when remade with American actors, and the ones that do rarely resemble their original inspiration. Here are the highest-grossing American remakes of foreign films (all domestic box office figures via Box Office Mojo).
Jaap Buitendijk/Searchlight
15. Nine Months (1995) - $69.6 Million
France, "Neuf mois" (1994)
This much-loved Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore rom-com about pregnancy started as a French romantic comedy called "Neuf mois," but it was the remake that took off in America and abroad, grossing $138 million worldwide.
Twentieth Century Fox
14. "Dinner for Schmucks" (2010) - $73.0 Million
France, "Le Diner de Cons" (1998)
The snappy French comedy "Le Diner de Cons," or "The Dinner Game," made over $4 million at the domestic box office after releasing in France back in 1998, spawning this less-critically successful remake from Jay Roach starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell.
Paramount
13. "Eight Below" (2006) - $81.6 Million
Japan, "Antarctica" (1983)
Both "Antarctica" and "Eight Below" were big box office hits. How could a survival story about eight huskies not be? But while "Eight Below" is a Disney-fied and whitewashed version of the story, the Japanese film hews closer to a real-life ill-fated rescue mission from the '50s. "Antarctica" also held the box office record in Japan until the release of "Princess Mononoke" in 1997.
Walt Disney Pictures
12. "Vanilla Sky" (2001) - $100.6 Million
Spain, "Abre Los Ojos" (1997)
Cameron Crowe directed Tom Cruise in the American remake of Alejandro Amenabar's "Abre Los Ojos," about a handsome and vain man who suffers an accident that disfigures his face. Crowe's version follows Amenabar's closely but makes a significant change to the ending that polarized some critics and audiences.
Paramount Pictures
11. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2011) - $102.5 Million
Sweden, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2009)
While technically an American version of Stieg Larsson's book, the success of David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" owes a lot to the overseas success of the Swedish adaptation of the book. The Swedish version grossed over $10 million in America and over $100 million worldwide. And the film's star, Noomi Rapace, set the stage for screen versions of Lisbeth Salander, further using it as a launching pad for her own English-language acting career.
Columbia Pictures Corporation
10. "The Italian Job" (2003) - $106.1 Million
Britain, "The Italian Job" (1969)
Mark Wahlberg might not be Michael Caine, but F. Gary Gray's retro caper of the classic British heist movie was a box office hit and helped put Mini Coopers back on the map stateside.
Paramount Pictures
9. "The Upside" (2019)
France, "The Intouchables" (2011)
Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart starred in this sweet remake of "The Intouchables," a movie that made so much money in France that it became a cultural event. After earning $166 million in France, the country's second-highest-grossing film ever, and over $426 million worldwide, an American remake of the film was inevitable, and it proved bankable as well. It made $108.2 million domestic but only did modestly overseas for a worldwide total of $125.8 million.
STXfilms
8. The Grudge (2004) - $110.3 Million
Japan, "Ju-On: The Grudge" (2002)
"The Grudge," like "The Ring," was part of a wave of Japanese horror remakes from the early 2000s and also spawned several other American horror sequels. As of 2020, even the American remake now got its own remake, though that one sputtered at the box office in comparison.
Columbia Pictures Corporation
7. "The Birdcage" (1996) - $124.0 Million
France, "La Cage aux Folles" (1978)
Mike Nichols' "The Birdcage" isn't just a remake of a foreign film, it's also an adaptation of a long-running French play. Both film and play are titled "La Cage aux Folles," and the French film adaptation was nominated for three Oscars following its release in 1978.
MGM
6. "The Ring" (2002) - $129.1 Million
Japan, "Ringu" (1998)
The American version of "The Ring" remains the highest-grossing horror remake of all time, and it was so wildly successful that it spawned a whirl of other American remakes of Japanese horror films, including "The Grudge," "Pulse," "The Eye," "Shutters," "Mirror" and more, all within a few years of each other.
DreamWorks
5. "The Departed" (2006) - $132 Million
Hong Kong, "Infernal Affairs," (2002)
Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" is so intrinsically tied to Boston cops and gangsters that it's hard to remember that the film's twisty story of moles and double crossing originated in Hong Kong as "Infernal Affairs," which itself spawned several sequels abroad. And while the film's critical acclaim in Japan was impressive, it was Scorsese's film that won the Oscar for Best Picture.
Roland Emmerich's "Godzilla" starring Matthew Broderick wasn't a hit with critics, but it did stomp all over the box office in 1998, becoming the 9th-highest-grossing film of the year.
Warner Bros.
3. "True Lies" (1994) - $146.2 Million
France, "La Totale!" (1991)
The French "La Totale!" is firmly a comedy and performed modestly at the French box office, but James Cameron made it his own when he cast Arnold Schwarzenegger in his tongue-in-cheek action blockbuster.
Twentieth Century Fox
2. "3 Men and a Baby" (1987) - $167.7 Million
France, "3 Hommes et un couffin" (1985)
Made on a midsize budget and starring the most '80s cast of Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson as three bachelors watching over a baby, "3 Men and a Baby" was a surprise comedy hit as the top grossing movie of 1987. But its French predecessor was likewise a success, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language film in 1986.
Buena Vista Pictures
1. "Godzilla" (2014) - $200.6 Million
Japan, "Godzilla" (1954)
"Godzilla" has had so many remakes and sequels over the years, but Gareth Edwards' film gets closer to the melancholy of Ishiro Honda's original monster movie than ever before.
Legendary/Warner Bros.
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“Downhill,” opening this week, is a remake of the critically acclaimed Swedish film “Force Majeure”
The Swedish film "Force Majeure" was a critically acclaimed darling but not exactly a box office hit. So there was an opportunity to take the film's black humor and install the American charms of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell to see how it might fare commercially in "Downhill," opening this weekend. But surprisingly, even box office hits abroad don't always translate when remade with American actors, and the ones that do rarely resemble their original inspiration. Here are the highest-grossing American remakes of foreign films (all domestic box office figures via Box Office Mojo).