UPDATED LIST: When Oscar voters received DVD screeners
Considering that Oscar nomination ballots will be shipped out this Friday, Dec. 26, some DVD screeners are arriving very late in voters' paws. Academy members were supposed to get "Seven Pounds" on Friday, but, secretly, deep down, some Sony execs were hoping for a bit of a delay so that many academy members might be forced to view Will Smith's latest "serious" flick in theaters on the big screen this weekend. Frankly, I think that's naïve. Look who we're talking about — the most pampered, coddled people on the planet: Hollywooders. The last thing they're going to do on the first big holiday weekend of Yule season is to rush out to the Cineplex to see one film that's being sent to them on DVD soon at home. A much-higher viewing priority is tackling those other late-arriving screeners stacking up on top of the DVD player.
Looks like Harvey Weinstein still believes strongly in The Last Movie Seen Theory. "The Reader" didn't reach voters till a few days ago! While many Oscar gurus today believe it's best for small, intimate films to be among the first DVD screeners sent to Oscars voters (a successful strategy for "Hustle & Flow," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Juno"), others like Harvey opt to be one of the last DVDs seen. Late DVD shipment worked well for films like "Pollock" (best supporting actress, Marcia Gay Harden) and, citing one of Harvey's Oscar ponies back in his ole Miramax days, "Iris" (Jim Broadbent won best supporting actor).
Below is a breakdown of when DVD screeners were received by all members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This does not cover DVDs sent to individual branches, just those sent to the full membership. ("The Secret Life of Bees" was sent only to the actors' and writers' branches around Dec. 2, for example; "Happy-Go-Lucky" went to the writers', directors' and actors' branches the week of Nov. 17.) If you know of other screeners that I missed mentioning here, please e-mail me at GoldDerby@gmail.com.
DEC 22-23 - "In Bruges"
DEC. 19-22 — "Seven Pounds"
DEC. 16-18 — "The Reader," "Tale of Despereaux"
DEC. 13-15 — "Revolutionary Road," "Gran Torino," "Good," "Bolt," "Defiance," "Mamma Mia!"
DEC. 6-12 — "Doubt," "Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "W."
DEC. 2-5 — "Milk," "The Dark Knight," "Changeling," "Kung Fu Panda," "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa"
NOV. 28-DEC. 1 — "Wall-E," "Elegy," "Nothing But the Truth," "What Doesn't Kill You," "The Yellow Handkerchief," "Synecdoche, New York"
NOV. 21-27 — "Frost/Nixon," "The Duchess," "Quantum of Solace," "The Wrestler," "Che"
NOV. 15-20 — "Slumdog Millionaire," "Rachel Getting Married," "Last Chance Harvey," "Traitor," "The Visitor"
NOV. 7 — "I've Loved You So Long"
NOV. 1 — "Burn After Reading"
OCT. 24 — "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
LATE SEPT. — "Frozen River"
Image: Tom O'Neil
