2010 Oscars favor 'The Hurt Locker' over 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

This weekend was a crazy one for Hollywood, both at the box office and at the Oscars. On Sunday's Oscar ceremony, The Hurt Locker won Best Picture over Avatar, its only real competition. And Alice in Wonderland kicked off the weekend by bulldozing over Avatar's opening three-day gross, earning $116.3 million, a whopping 50% more than Avatar's first-weekend $77 million. Thanks to these two events, Hollywood's prominent, front-running 3D sci-fi spectacle got knocked down back to Earth--a little bit.

The Academy Awards themselves came and went without any major surprises. Most of the whispered favorites in the blogosphere ended up going on to win the awards. With my ear firmly placed to the ground, this blogger was able to correctly pick all the acting categories, director, and picture, along with other talked-about categories like Original Score and Adapted Screenplay. Sure, it required a bit of luck, but also that oft-repeated phrase that "Hollywood likes a good story." That's part of the reason Kathryn Bigelow ("The first woman!!!") won Best Director. To make the award mean more, it seems right to follow it up with Best Picture, no? James Cameron already had his go at being "King of the World," and the Academy wanted to give someone else a turn.

That mood was extended to three of the four acting categories. Christoph Waltz, the winner of Best Supporting Actor, seemed to be the only person whose win was a story of performance alone. Mo'Nique also turned in a great performance, but her victory also seemed to be about coming into the Hollywood family, learning a bit about how the game works while at the same time refusing to play it, since she came under a lot of criticism early in awards season for skipping ceremonies and supposedly requesting appearance fees. In her speech, she opened by saying "First of all I would like to thank the Academy, for showing that it can be about the performance, and not the politics." Okay, but isn't an explicitly "unpolitical" choice making its own kind of anti-statement? Now I'm just running my head round in circles...

Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges both won versions of the "It's their time" informal lifetime achievement award--but that didn't mean everyone didn't feel all warm and fuzzy to see these stars finally recognized. Following Mo'Nique, Bullock went right out and acknowledged the motives behind her own win, starting with "Did I really earn this or did I just wear y'all down?" Since Bullock is primarily a comedic actress, and will be unlikely to receive such an opportunity again, it was nice to see this talented performer win for a body of work that includes goofy, non-Oscar films like Miss Congeniality. Bridges, who won on his fifth nomination, was also a pleasure to see on the podium. He called his profession "groovy" (Is he actually like his Big Lebowski character The Dude?) and thanked his wife profusely. Shockingly, by Hollywood standards, they have been married over thirty years. She looked, horror of horrors, like a fifty-year-old woman, and seeing how Bridges has remained true to his roots and first love made me appreciate the actor even more.

To cap off the ceremony, The Hurt Locker won Best Director (which James Cameron claimed not to want) and Best Picture (which James Cameron wanted). I can't wrap my head around how little money The Hurt Locker has made. How can a war movie, an action movie, about bomb diffusers make less in total ($14.7 million) than one Saturday night of Avatar's run? I hope this movie is making a killing in the DVD market, and earned a pretty penny for television rights, but its theatrical release was a disappointment. What's weirder, the movie was a really slow burn. Last year it received just two acting nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards, and won zero. However, given the movie's June release (a rarity for Oscar nominees, let alone winners), maybe a low box office was the price they had to pay for the visibility of being the only awards-worthy movie released that month. As the lowest-grossing movie (pretty much ever) to win the Best Picture Oscar, this movie was propelled by critical word-of-mouth and industry viewings. Now it's a matter of having the rest of the U.S. catch up. Its re-release into theatres this weekend earned it about $400k, and I sincerely hope moviegoers will purchase at least another million bucks in tickets next weekend.