Critics’ Choice award show out in front

Sitting around at a press junket 15 years ago, then film critic Rod Lurie -- now director Rod Lurie (“The Contender,” “Resurrecting the Champ”) -- and reporter-critic Joey Berlin were struck by the fact that this roomful of influential TV and radio film journalists had a collective voice crying out to be heard in the awards firmament.

“Rod and I thought it would be logical if the people who not only review movies, but also do interviews reaching the largest group of moviegoers on a daily basis, were to offer their opinions at the end of the year just like the New York, L.A. and other critic groups get to do,” remembers Berlin, now president of the Broadcast Film Critics Assn., which boasts 241 voting members (including this writer) across the country, making it the largest association of film critics anywhere and far larger than the 83 voting foreign journalists who make up the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. -- the force behind the Golden Globe Awards.

Just three weeks after the broadcasters’ group was founded in 1995, the Critics’ Choice Awards was launched with 17 categories. Astonishingly, 14 winners showed up to accept them. Five years later, the group had a TV deal with E!, then the WB Network and now it’s in the final year of its initial three-year deal with VH1, which on Friday will broadcast the 15th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards from the Hollywood Palladium, hosted by Emmy and Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth. The categories have now ballooned to 25, including some technical awards to keep closer in line with the Oscars. Berlin says almost every major acting nominee has pledged to show up to this week’s show.

Of course, throwing their kudo- cast just two days before the Golden Globes is a pretty good way to guarantee the stars will be in town and in a mood to get some trophies. But is the Critics’ Choice also making a move on the Globes’ far-more-established and highly rated NBC telecast?

“It’s a complicated date in awards season,” says Tom Calderone, president of VH1. “We’re trying to be good neighbors. It’s not necessarily a competitive thing but it is important to be first. The Globes have many more years on us but we’re different. We don’t give out TV awards like they do and, in fact, we like riding the wave of all the important movie shows including SAG, the Independent Spirits and the Oscars.”

So while the broadcasters focus solely on movies, there are still natural parallels to the Globes, Berlin says. The Critics’ Choice picks come from American journalists while the Globes come from the foreign ones.

“You have to give the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. their due. They have built up what is arguably the party of the year by rewarding movies and TV as long as they have. Their awards are significant, but we don’t feel ours are any less,” Berlin says.

By going first, Calderone feels the Broadcast Film Critics Assn.’s event sets the “tone” for the rest of the award shows to follow. He said VH1 went with the show initially because they were impressed with the star turnout it had been getting and the high batting average of forecasting which films eventually go on to win Oscars. Last year, for instance, the Critics’ Choice was the first award telecast to go for a “Slumdog Millionaire” sweep as well as other future Oscar winners that year, such as Sean Penn and Heath Ledger. The organization has foretold the eventual best picture Oscar in eight of the last 10 years.

Perhaps that kind of track record is one reason studios and publicists make sure their nominees show up. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have lent their considerable star power the last two years running and George Clooney and Meryl Streep, among others, have RSVP’d their attendance for this year.

“I think stars and filmmakers go because they see these critics all year long at junkets, they aren’t peers but they feel they have a relationship to them,” says Warner Bros. awards consultant Michele Robertson. “Also, it’s a good indicator of how the season will go. They are the first to see the movies and often represent the opinions of the public and greater industry. It’s a good Oscar indicator.”

On the down side, the ratings, while inching upward, are lower than VH1 would like. Even so, Calderone says advertisers love the show and though talks haven’t yet begun on a renewal, the network is patient, looking for growth year to year.

“We like to think of this as the big critics weekend,” says Berlin, comparing his show to the initial New Hampshire presidential primary where the candidates usually get their first crack at a victory speech. “We are on Friday, the Globes are on Sunday. It’s going to be an awful lot of the same people and you are going to see them first on Friday night.”

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