Hollywood's Oscar Blahs

Here's a story in the New York Times on the lack of interest in the Academy Awards to be held this Sunday.

"LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 - In the days leading up to the movie industry's most glamorous night, the Oscars, the word heard frequently around Hollywood this year is not glitz, or hype, or excitement. It is fatigue ... But another challenge this year seems to be the best picture nominees themselves: none have crossed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. In previous years when films like "Titanic," "Forrest Gump" or "Gladiator" ruled the box office and the nominations, audience interest seemed built in."

The NY Times article points out that The Aviator hasn't even come close to earning back the cost of production ($89M versus $112M) and (yet another weird) Clint Eastwood-directed movie, Million Dollar Baby, has earned only $56M. These are, apparently, the front runners.

And NOWHERE mentioned in the article is Mel Gibson's 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ, which earned - wait for it - $611M. Yep, and the enlightened minds who run Hollywood and who froze this expression of the 2000-year-old Catholic faith out of the Oscars, wonder why nobody cares about them. Duh.