‘Reagan’ and ‘Deadpool’ crush Academy’s leftist flops in 2024 poll

As Sunday’s Oscars on ABC will push progressive duds like "Emilia Pérez," a new poll finds the best film of 2024 was "Deadpool & Wolverine" while the favorite biographical movie was "Reagan."

Another nugget from the poll that is of concern to Hollywood, especially the exhibition subset of the industry, is that 63% of moviegoers say they now prefer to watch films at home rather than in theaters.

"Deadpool & Wolverine," a superhero film based on those two Marvel Comics' characters, boasts a $1.3 billion global haul at the box office, thus it’s no surprise that moviegoers liked the film and also its star, Ryan Reynolds, whom they named their favorite actor.

But the poll also asked about least favorites, and Blake Lively, who is married to Reynolds, was the least-liked actress, no doubt owed to her public feud with Justin Baldoni, her director and co-star in the film "It Ends With Us."

Will Smith was the least favorite actor, perhaps caused by continued backlash to him slapping Chris Rock three years ago after the Oscar host that year joked about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. 

Meanwhile, "Reagan," the true story of the actor who became the 40th president and a conservative icon, outpaced last year’s other biopics, including "Bob Marley: One Love" and A Complete Unknown," about musician Bob Dylan, despite the latter collecting eight Oscar nominations compared with zero for "Reagan." 

The poll, commissioned by entertainment website ScenesMedia.com, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4% and a confidence level of 95%.

ScenesMedia.com CEO Harold Fickett in an interview with Just the News said the academy’s “deliberate exclusion” of "Reagan" was a slap at heartland values ahead of Sunday’s glitzy show. In fact, he used "Reagan" to illustrate his view that the Oscars are out of touch with mainstream America.

“The Academy crows about ‘inclusion’—more Best Picture nominees, diversity rules—but it’s a farce, doubling down on progressive bias,” he said.

Fickett also complained that Oscar nominees "Conclave" “moralizes” and "The Substance" “shocks for no reason,” adding that “'Reagan' stirs souls without a sermon –Hollywood can’t stomach that kind of authenticity.”

He called the Best-Actress nomination for Karla Sofía Gascón, who was born male and later transitioned to female, “leftist misogyny at its ugliest – a biological man stealing a woman’s spotlight.”

Fickett also said "Reagan" was the top politically themed film of 2024, beating out the likes of "Conclave," "The Brutalist" and "Civil War."

Cynthia Erivo of "Wicked" won favorite actress, according to the poll, while Tim Burton was tops among directors and Kevin Feige was tops among producers.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" was not without its flaws, apparently, as it was also named the least favorite, though its rabid fanbase drowned out its fewer detractors.

Oscar darlings like "The Brutalist" and "Anora" barely registered, with Fickett calling the films “elitist pats on the back, not films for real moviegoers. December drops like "Anora" are seen by no one but insiders.”

Fickett, in fact, estimated that 98% of moviegoers find many of this year’s Oscar nominees “unwatchable.”

Least favorite votes in the poll scatter across "Wicked," "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," and "It Ends With Us," though they have fewer detractors than the year’s best and worst film, "Deadpool & Wolverine."

Fickett mourned an Oscars that once lifted Brooklyn and The Green Book, saying: “Now it’s a self-righteous bubble; Sunday’s show a gauntlet of bad vibes.”

“'Anora' bores, "Emilia Pérez" scolds, "Nosferatu" tortures the sane  – it’s not excellence, it’s punishment,” he said. “The Oscars are a gilded sermon for a shrinking clique –Middle America’s done with the preaching.”