Peter Bart: Hollywood Musicals raise hopes for hard-won harmony between Oscar voters and audiences

The sound of music was with us again this week in the form of two contrasting productions which, although captivating audiences, pose a challenge for marketers.

master began streaming on Netflix after auditioning in a (very) limited number of select theaters. Will the narcissistic protagonist Leonard Bernstein be larger than life on the big screen, but too big for the silver screen?

Wonkawhile it’s an examination of the ubiquity of advertising, with segments appearing on every platform from TBS to the Food Network. The campaign reflects Warner Bros. Discovery’s determination to transcend genre funk, just like Netflix west side story or Dear Evan Hansen).

In the background are the bake-offs, replays and replays promoted by an academy eager to vote for international candidates to fulfill its global scenario.

Gil Cates, the colorful impresario who directed fourteen Oscar shows and saved the genre from… Snow White Debacle, Barbenheimer would probably have been happy. He argues that in 2023 voters will finally be able to vote for films they have actually seen, perhaps even in theaters.

In his exploration of Oscar intrigue, Cates has always been struck by the conflicting reactions of moviegoers when thinking about where and how they saw a film. A film that received a twelve-minute standing ovation at Cannes often fell flat on the home screen, boring audiences.

Bradley Cooper, exuberantly conducting a Mahler symphony, may need a big screen and an anticipatory space to energize the audience. Likewise these May December The conceit of a movie within a movie may appeal more to the filmmakers of Telluride than to the popcorn crowd in Peoria.

Oscar voters remember Netflix’s frantic campaign in 2018 to encourage them to watch Roma, the art film by Alfonso Cuarón, in the tidy Netflix screening room in Hollywood. There were daily emails and hourly phone calls, followed by espresso and cookies and perfect sound quality, all of which helped convince publicists to explain the twisted plot.

Nowadays Netflix is ​​of course also available in the lavishly restored Egyptian Theater and the Paris in New York and Netflix no longer needs to beg for attention. Roma ultimately failed to win the big prize – some critics then went to therapy Green book won the award for best film.

Will musicals be able to capitalize on the era when so many mainstream films have postponed their release parties? The resounding success of The sound of music In 1965, 20th Century Fox came back to life, but also led to a chain reaction of failures such as: Doctor Dolittle.

The audience never seemed to fully understand the melody.