When you think about it, why should it even be a factor in this day and age?
Actors 1260
Producers 469
Executives 429
Sound 415
Writers 396
Art Directors 378
Directors 376
Public Relations 371
Members at Large 366
Shorts/Feature Ani 316
Visual Effects 249
Music 237
Editors 224
Cinematographers 186
Documentary 134
Total 5973
There are 5973 academy members. Let's say that each DVD actually cost the studios 20 bucks a pop. That's $119,460.00. I have no idea how much postage for one DVD would be, but let's say it's 5 bucks. The whole thing would be a 25 dollar investment per academy member, and I'm sure they have each and every mailing address at their finger tips. That's just under 150 grand.
Doesn't this put things into a whole new playing field, as far as campaigning goes? Sure they want to get nice attractive looking FYC posters out there, and it helps to have a movie playing so you can have TV commercials at your disposal to throw in sound bites from all the acolades from top critics.
"Flags of Our Fathers is THE timeless masterpiece of our time. It will be showered with Oscars." - Roger Ebert
Disclaimer: The above quote isn't real, just being used as an example of the blurbs that can be shown in TV ads that could have *some* influence, but that doesn't necessarily mean the box office has to be strong to do that. It would appear that all films are on a much more level playing field now, regardless of release date, box office, or budget, since everybody has the ability to put their movie right in the hands of the voters in a simple and convenient little package.
Perhaps this is the very tie in to last year's lack of a big money maker, it doesn't matter anymore with DVD options available now.
What is a logical reason that Box office and release date even matter today?