Audience for the latest Academy Awards collapsed with a score of 9.85 million viewers in the United States, a drop of more than 58% from the previous year and an all-time low, according to the figures communicated by the ABC channel which broadcast the ceremony.
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At the start of 2020, before the pandemic that rocked Hollywood and the film industry, the Oscar ceremony drew 23.6 million American spectators, which was already at the time the worst audience score recorded by the 'event. This very bad result was expected by the experts and is in line with the half-mast figures achieved this season by other film awards, such as the Golden Globes (6.9 million spectators in the USA) and the Grammy Awards (8.8 million) .
This drop in audience for the Oscars has been observed regularly in recent years.
In 2014 again, the gala evening attracted more than 43 million spectators in front of the small screen.
Usually the Oscars are the most watched non-sporting event of the year but this time it pales in comparison to the broadcast of the first episode of a remake of
The Equalizer
series
, which drew 20 million Americans, and from the interview of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by Oprah Winfrey last month, with more than 17 million.
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With theaters closed for much of 2020, studios have pushed back big productions, like
Steven Spielberg's
West Side Story
or the new version of
Dune
. The Oscar nominees this year were clearly unfamiliar with some of the audience, like the night's big winner,
Nomadland
, an independent film with a modest budget and with a large part of amateur actors playing their own role. To date, the three-Oscar film has barely grossed two million dollars at the US box office.
Among the failures noted this year by many experts, the absence of Anthony Hopkins, crowned best actor for
The Father
. However, exceptionally, the organizers had changed the order of presentation of the statuettes, which traditionally ends with the best feature film, and ends with the Oscar for best actor.
"At 83, I never expected to receive this award, really not,"
apologized from Wales Anthony Hopkins in a video posted to Instagram. He also paid tribute to the memory of Chadwick Boseman, who died last year of cancer after filming his latest film "The Blues of Ma Rainey". The star was considered the big favorite in the category of best actor.
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The flagship Hollywood ceremony was held exceptionally in a historic train station in downtown Los Angeles, where competing stars and technical teams could work while respecting health guidelines and physical distancing.
Critics' opinions of the ceremony were mixed on Monday, with many regretting the lack of humor and musical numbers that are the hallmarks of these great American-style shows.
