Dear Gossips,

I went to see Little Women on Friday after wrapping up the site – and I was annoyed. Annoyed because I wanted to see it at a VIP theatre (leather reclining seats, in-seat food and drink service, for 19+) and it’s not playing at any, not one, VIP theatres in Toronto. Frozen 2, however, which has been out for six weeks, is still at VIP theatres. They thought that more people 19+ were going to pay premium to see Frozen 2, a movie that’s been out for six weeks over Little Women. 

Wouldn’t you know it, the regular theatre I was at for Little Women was packed. Turns out, although this shouldn’t be a surprise, there are many, many people who want to see Little Women. So many that it opened strong (and critically acclaimed) with a five-day total box office of almost $30 million, good enough to tie for third place with Frozen 2 despite opening on one thousand FEWER screens. They’re now saying Little Women has a shot at $100 million domestic, especially if it’s helped by word of mouth. So let me add to that: 

I F-CKING LOVE GRETA GERWIG’s LITTLE WOMEN SO MUCH. I didn’t want it to end. I could have watched another two hours of the March sisters. Saoirse Ronan is wonderful. She and Timothee Chalamet continue to be wonderful together. Florence Pugh’s voice is magic to me, it has bewitched me, I am forever changed. She is THE BEST AMY of all time – and all that, of course, is because Greta Gerwig is a genius. 

And yet…

Remember, Little Women was only nominated for one Golden Globe and completely shut out of the Screen Actors Guild nominations. Why and how? 

Per Vanity Fair, “Little Women Has a Little Man Problem”. Apparently male award voters aren’t showing up for the screenings because “they think [the film] is not for guys”. The same thing happened with Melina Matsoukas’s Queen & Slim as voters stayed away from the screenings made available to them because …well… you can fill in the blanks there. 

Amy Pascal, who produced Little Women, confirms that voter screenings weren’t all that well-attended by men. “I think it’s kind of the same thing [with both Little Women and Queen & Slim]. It’s a different bias,” Pascal said. “[Voters think], These kinds of stories are important to me, and these kinds of stories are less important to me.”

That’s always been the story of Little Women – and it’s built right into the story and the film. They didn’t think anyone would be interested in reading about the lives of these young women and they were wrong. They didn’t think anyone would be interested in seeing a movie about the lives of these young women so Little Women had to kill it at the box office (as women have had to do historically in every industry), proving the people who doubted it wrong. 

So. With voting on Oscar nominations beginning this Thursday, and Little Women clearly a financial success, is the Academy paying attention? This would actually be an opportunity – and this is rare – for the Oscars to say that got it more right than the others. 

Go see Little Women!

Yours in gossip,

Lainey