Movies, a national pastime, provide a magical escape from the real world. While actors and directors are constantly commended or reprimanded for their work in the movies, production studios, the people that make the magic happen, are often overlooked. Good or bad, each movie is a representation of a specific company that believes in and benefits from its success.
Avonworth students are typical white urban Americans. While political and religious affiliations may be varied throughout the student body, one fact remains the same about all of them; they are middle class. And like most middle class teenagers, Avonworth students can often be found in the many movie theaters and video stores around their homes. Among the students polled, several were well aware of which studios produced their favorite movies. 24% chose Warner Brothers Studios because of titles like "Harry Potter" and "The Matrix." Such movies as "Legally Blonde" and "Bridget Jones" Diary" lead 22% to find MGM and Miramax Pictures equally worthy of their viewing. Twentieth Century Fox came in with 20% of the votes due to box office blockbusters like "Star Wars" and "Titanic," and Universal ended the polling with a sad 12% most likely because of the recent bomb, "The Scorpion King." However, the Academy has never seemed to share the popular opinion, nor does it share that of Avonworth students. .
All across America, the Academy Awards are famous for the prestige and honor they bring to the shining stars of show business. In the last 75 years, Oscars have been awarded only to the best, at least, in the eyes of the members of the Academy. While those students polled chose Universal as their least favorite production studio, "A Beautiful Mind," Universal's prize picture of 2002, was awarded the coveted best picture Oscar at last year's ceremony. Along with last year's award, Universal has produced 18 Oscar winning and 39 Oscar nominated movies.