And The Winner Is...City Employees Pick Oscar Winners, Favorite Movie Snacks, Etc.

AND THE WINNER IS…

City Employees Pick Oscar Winners

Share preferences for snacks,

where they watch movies

and how often they go to theaters

RAPID CITY, SD—Millions of movie enthusiasts from around the world will be tuning in to Sunday’s broadcast of the Academy Awards with most cheering on favorites for best picture, best actor and best actress.

            City employees were surveyed Thursday to share their predictions for the top movie honors for 2022, their favorite movie snacks, how often they go to the movie theaters and where they prefer to watch their favorite movies.

            And the winner is…

            ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

            In a surprising selection, City employees give their collective Oscar nod for Best Picture to ‘Top Gun: Maverick’  More than one in four responding City employees (26.6%), tabbed the Tom Cruise movie as the best of the 10 movies up for top movie honors of 2022.  A very close second was ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ which was selected by 24. 4 percent of the respondents.  ‘Banshees of Inshirin’ was third with 13.3 percent followed with a tie between ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and ‘The Fabelmans’ with 8.9 percent each.  ‘Elvis’ and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ tied with 6.7 percent each of the survey votes. ‘Tar’ also received votes.

BEST PICTURE:

26.6%              Top Gun: Maverick

24.4%              Everything Everywhere All at Once

13.3%              Banshees of Inshirin

8.9% (tie)        All Quiet on the Western Front

                        The Fabelmans

6.7% (tie)        Elvis

                        Avatar: The Way of Water

4.5%                Tar

            When it comes to the best actor and best actress awards, a majority of survey respondents would hand Oscars to Brendan Fraser for his role in ‘The Whale’ and ‘Michelle Yeoh’ for her performance in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’.  

Fraser got the nod for Best Actor Oscar from 59 percent of responding employees with ‘Elvis’ actor Austin Butler at 31.8%.  Colin Farrell (‘The Banshees of Inisherin’) and Paul Mescal (‘Aftersun’) each received 4.6% of the votes.  For Best Actress, Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) collected 50% of the vote, followed by Cate Blanchett (‘Tar’) with 22.7% (percentage), Michelle Williams (‘The Fabelmans’) at 18.1%, Ana de Armas (‘Blonde’) with 6.8% and none at 2.4%.

BEST ACTOR:

59%                 Brendan Fraser ‘The Whale’

31.8%              Austin Butler ‘Elvis’

4.6% (tie)        Colin Farrell ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’

                        Paul Mescal ‘Aftersun’

BEST ACTRESS:

50%                 Michelle Yeoh ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’

22.7%              Cate Blanchett ‘Tar’

18.1%              Michelle Williams ‘The Fabelmans’

6.8%                Ana de Armas ‘Blonde’

2.4%                None of the selections

There are no surprises when it comes to favorite movie snack, whether respondents are watching at the movie theater or in the comforts of home.  Popcorn is the favorite snack for 63% of respondents followed by soda at 9.8%(percentage), candy 7.6%, pizza 6.5%, beer 4.4% and assorted other favorites at 8.7%.

Most employees who responded, 61.7%, go to the movie theatres one to five times a year with 17 percent of respondents going 6-10 times a year and another 17 percent who no longer go to theaters to watch movies.  The remaining 4.3 percent head to the theaters between 11-20 times a year or over 20 times a year.

When it comes to watching movies, 68% choose to catch the newest releases on a streaming service at home compared to 32% that prefer to catch new releases on the big screen at the movie theater.

FAVORITE SNACK:

63%                 Popcorn

9.8%                Pop/Soda

7.6%                Candy

6.5%                Pizza

4.4%                Beer

8.7%                Assorted items

HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU

GO TO THE MOVIE THEATER?

61.7%              1-5 times/year

17% (tie)         6-10 times/year

                        Zero/don’t go anymore

4.3% (tie)        11-20 times/year

                        More than 20 times/year

WHERE DO YOU WATCH MOVIES?

68%                 Streaming services at home

32%                 Movie theater

            City Council members Pat Roseland, Pat Jones and Laura Armstrong responded to the survey as well.  All three favor popcorn as their favorite snack. Roseland and Jones like to catch movies at the theater 6-10 times each year while Armstrong prefers to catch new releases on streaming services at home and goes to the movies at theaters 1-5 times a year.  Jones predicts wins for ‘The Fabelmans’, Austin Butler and Michelle Williams while Armstrong is tabbing wins for ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, Brendan Fraser and Cate Blanchett.