I would suggest it's a self-enforcing cycle. In the past, the Academy has tended to award its Best Picture / Best Director cherries to movies released closer to its decision-making time. The studios, seeking Oscars to add to their prestige, notice this, and release more of what they consider their "prestige pictures" around the end of the year. The Academy awards more of these pictures with Oscars, and the trend continues.
-JP --- Bryan Caplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The Political Business Cycle story has not fared > well empirically in recent years (though Kevin Grier > has done interesting work on Mexico's PBC). But it > seems overwhelming in the Oscars. It seems like > roughly half of the big nominees get released in > December. What gives? Is there any way to explain > this other than Academy voters' amnesia? > > I guess there is a small intertemporal benefit - if > you could win Best Picture of 2004 with a January > 2004 release, or Best Picture of 2003 with a > December 2003 release, the present value of the > latter prize would presumably be higher. But can > that one year's interest (presumably adjusted for a > lower probability of winning due to tighter > deadlines) explain the December lump? __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 http://search.yahoo.com/top2003
