The latest analysis of the Oscar race to join the fray, the Twitter Oscars Index measures how positively Oscar-nominated movies, actors, and directors are being talked about on Twitter. Unlike the Farsite Forecast, which is about calculating the odds of winning, the Twitter Oscar Index is more about sentiment. If there is a default rating for films or nominees, it appears to be around 80 on a scale of 100. But there are some notable exceptions.
In the Best Picture race, eight of the ten nominees are between 82 and 93 on sentiment. That means the tweets about the movies are 82% to 83% more positive than the average tweet. That makes sense, since these movies are the best of the best. Down a little lower is Amour with a score of 69. The foreign-language film was a surprise nominee, and only the fourth time a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film also showed up in the Best Picture category. But it's also considered quite depressing. Could that be affecting the score? Way, way below Amour is Zero Dark Thirty, which has been flatlining with an abysmally low score of 5.5. I guess the outcry over depictions of torture was enough to drive this score down. "Torture" is a negative sentiment, right...?
I suspect the Twitter Oscars Index may be more fun than actually useful. In the Supporting Actress category, Anne Hathaway is considered a lock for her soulful Fantine. She is also in the lead in the Twitterverse, with a sentiment score of 87.5, but there's no indication that she's considered a frontrunner. I also have no idea how Helen Hunt would be tracking so low, with a score of just 45. And how do they separate sentiments towards a celebrity from feelings about the actress in that role? After all, many of these actresses are juggling multiple films. Maybe people are just commenting on how much they loved/hated their Golden Globes dress, not the actress' performance.
Flaws aside, Twitter Oscars Index looks like a fun tool to check in on the Oscar race, now just 37 days away.
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