The Passion's Non-Campaign Strategy

It has been reported that Mel Gibson will not be spending any money on an Oscar campaign for the surprise hit The Passion of the Christ , which has grossed over $370 Million in the US alone. The story goes on to say that Gibson and co. want to bring it back to basics; instead of spending exhoberrant amounts on print ads, they would rather letting the film speak for itself. This move has been welcomed by the Academy, and to be quiet frank, the number of For Your Consideration ads has gotten to a ridiculous level lately. I remember a couple of years back there was a campaign for Matthew Lillard to be nominated for best actor for Scooby Doo.

Of course, the lack of a campaign has already generated much in terms of publicity for the film, and there will be screenings of the film as well as dvds sent to the voters. Given the film's box office and the subject matter, I think it is clear that if The Passion wasn't a leading contender for a Best Picture nomination already, it is now. The Academy members will be impressed by the fact that the film 'speaks for itself' and it will tap into many people's sensibility that the Oscars are about the artistic merit of a film rather than about who spent the most money on an ad campaign. I think we saw last year with Cold Mountain that the Miramax tactics for Oscar campaigning will no longer work the way they used to. I am quiet amazed at how clever Gibson has been in marketing this film since day one, and in this move he may have started a new trend in the way pictures are promoted to gain Oscar consideration.