Reported at 10:06 a.m. ET: First the Snyder Cut, now two Oscars? Zack Snyder’s fans dominated the 2022 Oscars social media voting for two new Academy Award categories, #OscarsCheersMoment and #OscarsFanFavorite. After the winners were unveiled during Sunday’s ceremony, both Snyder’s “Justice League” and “Army of the Dead” are now listed as Academy Award winners on IMDb. IMDb did not reply to IndieWire’s request for comment. An Academy source tells IndieWire these are “definitely not” actual Oscar wins and that it was just “a fan recognition.”
The most cheer-worthy film moment of 2021 was awarded to The Flash (Ezra Miller) entering the Speed Force in the DC film “Justice League,” a scene that was not in the original cut and solely in Snyder’s version that premiered on HBO Max. Ironically, the “most cheer-worthy” sequence was met with no applause at the 94th Academy Awards.
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Even more baffling, the #OscarsCheersMoment seemed to encompass all of film history and not just 2021, with Jennifer Hudson’s “Dreamgirls” ballad “And I’m Telling You (I’m Not Going)” from 2006 and Marvel’s Avengers assembling in “Avengers: Endgame” from 2019 among the runner-ups.
Film Twitter weighed in on the award, with ScreenCrush editor Matt Singer putting the honor for “Justice League” in context, joking, “Rosebud. I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse. The Flash enters the Speed Force.”
Vulture critic Jen Chaney tweeted, “Literally no one clapping after that Best Movie Moments poll ends with a Justice League clip: proper response. That whole poll was a pandering mess.”
Later in the Oscars ceremony, Snyder’s Netflix tentpole “Army of the Dead” won the Fan Favorite film category, beating out 2021 blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
New York Times culture writer and author of “Made Men: The Story of ‘Goodfellas’” Glenn Kenny wrote, “Man I never realized just how dangerous Zack Snyder fans were before now.”
Snyder has not been awarded actual Oscar statuettes, but the films are officially deemed Academy Award winners, per IMDb standing on their respective pages.
The Academy previously announced in 2018 a planned Best Popular Film category to curb then-historic low ratings. The category was later scrapped before the 91st Academy Awards, citing the need to postpone the addition to “examine and seek additional input regarding the new category” following backlash.
These fan-chosen categories at the Oscars played like soft versions of a Best Popular Film category in hopes of drawing more viewers in. Ratings were up from 2021’s ceremony, with 16.6 million viewers this year, but it’s still the Oscars’ second-smallest audience ever.
— Will Mavity (@mavericksmovies) March 29, 2022 Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
