Oscar bait

Oscar bait is a term used in the film community for movies that appear to have been produced for the sole purpose of winning or attempting to win Academy Awards, or "Oscars", as they are commonly known. They are usually released just in advance of Oscar season, late in the calendar year, to meet the minimum eligibility requirements for the awards and be fresh in the minds of voters from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The prestige or acclaim the studio may receive from the nomination or award is often secondary to the increased box office receipts such a film may garner; some films may even be depending on it to turn a profit. Films seen as Oscar bait often have distinct characteristics. Lavishly produced epic-length period drama and war films, often set against tragic and historical events, are frequently seen this way and often contend for the technical Oscars such as cinematography, makeup and hairstyling, costume design or production design. The explicit use of the Oscar nominations as a promotional strategy dates to 1978, but the term has been used in discussions of films since at least 1942, and studios have always tended to release at least some films that bait Oscar voters near the end of the year. In December 1978, with the first ever example of a targeted awards strategy of its kind, Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter was shown only to limited audiences heavy with Oscar voters and critics for just long enough to be eligible, and then went into wide release after the nominations were announced. It ultimately won that year's Best Picture Oscar along with four others. Studios emulated the strategy in later years, and in the early 21st century the term has come into wide use among both filmmakers and...