Over the past few years, ratings for the Oscars have plummeted. The Academy attempted to solve the issue with the introduction of a "Best Popular Movie" award, but widespread backlash led to those plans quickly being scrapped. Now, Twitter users have been given the opportunity to vote for their favourite movie, though the winner of this "prize" won't actually win an Oscar.
An argument could be made that this makes it little more than a glorified Twitter poll, and the nature of social media means it has been hijacked to some extent.
Before learning that Zack Snyder's Justice League was ineligible due to its streaming release, #RestoreTheSnyderVerse supporters had attempted to steal a win by voting for the four-hour DC Comics adaptation. After that failed, Army of the Dead has managed to break into the list of current frontrunners (presented below in alphabetical order, not by the number of votes).
As you can see, Snyder's zombie movie is joined by Cinderella, Dune, Malignant, Minamata, The Power of the Dog, Sing 2, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Suicide Squad, and tick, tick... Boom!
Spider-Man: No Way Home initially seemed like the obvious favourite given the backlash surrounding its lack of "Best Picture" nomination, but it was recently reported that Cinderella is the current frontrunner. It's hard not to be intrigued by how #OscarsFanFavorite will pan out, but voting closes in a couple of days, so you'd best cast your vote sooner rather than later.
This year's Academy Awards take place on March 27.