The Oscar Race: They’re Off and Dining

Universal Pictures was the first studio out of the blocks in the annual Academy Awards Campaign Marathon recently--but was it a false start?

Universal shot ahead of the pack when it sent a four-color mailer to members of all branches of the Academy, inviting them to one of three dinners prepared by studio chefs, followed by screenings of “Gorillas in the Mist” (which may be Universal’s strongest Oscar candidate this year). The “Gorillas in the Mist menu” was included with the invitation, holding out an additional carrot--specifically, carrot linguine carbonara-- to potential guests.

“This is really like old Hollywood,” complained a marketing rival at another studio. “They’re turning this thing into the Golden Globes”-- an allusion to glitter and hype, rather than substance.

Universal, which didn’t have much to tout last year, then got an early jump with the first “calendar” trade ads, listing scheduled screenings for nine different films.

“There is nothing extraordinary about this,” said Booker McClay, a marketing consultant who has run Universal’s Oscar campaign for several years. “The whole point (of a campaign) is to get people to see your picture under the most agreeable circumstances.

“We did start early,” he added, “but you have to make the picture available for these people at their convenience. If you wait too late, you’re competing with too many people.”

McClay said there will be further dinners and screenings for other Universal Oscar contenders, including “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “Midnight Run,” “Moon Over Parador,” “Biloxi Blues,” “The Land Before Time,” “Twins” and “The Milagro Beanfield War.”

“It (the dinner program) is going to backfire in their faces,” predicted a veteran Academy Award strategist who was among the invitees to one of the “Gorillas” soirees. “The Academy members will see right through it.”