The Revenant is B.C.'s top choice for Best Picture: study

A new study from NRG Research Group and Peak Communicators has found that 35% of British Columbians are pegging The Revenant as this year’s Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The online study polled 1,000 Canadians across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada – asking whether or not they would be watching the Oscars, which movie they felt would win Best Picture, and whether or not the lack of diversity in the nominees would affect whether or not they tuned in.

“The Oscars are interesting because there’s the critics, there’s the professionals, but there’s also the people who go to see the movies,” Dr. Lesley Duncan, a Research Consultant with NRG Research Group told Vancity Buzz. “We wanted to see if there was going to be a difference in what people thought versus what the critics think in terms of Best Picture.”

With the controversy surrounding this year’s all white list of acting nominees, Duncan says the data from that question yielded some interesting results. According to the findings, 26% of men aged 18 to 34 and 27% of men aged 35 to 54 say they are more likely to watch due to the controversy, while 17% of women aged 18 to 34 are less likely to watch.

“[We wondered] how viewing behaviour would be influenced by some of the celebrities who are boycotting,” she says. “Are you going to follow the celebrities and not watch, or tune in and see how they handle it?”

A link to the study can be found on the NRG Research Group website.