The movies leading the Oscars’ Twitter vote for a ‘fan-favorite’ award, ranked according to exclusive social data

• Netflix’s “Army of the Dead” is leading the Oscars’ Twitter-voted, fan-favorite award.
• Amazon’s “Cinderella” was in second place through Wednesday.
• The final day to vote is Thursday.

In an apparent effort to drive engagement with the Oscars in the face of dwindling ratings, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars voting body) introduced a “fan-favorite” award this year.

Audiences are voting on their favorite movie of 2021 on Twitter by tweeting the title along with the hashtags “#OscarsFanFavorite” and “#Sweepstakes,” or by filling out an online form.

It’s still unclear whether the fan-favorite movie will be awarded the iconic statuette on Oscars night on March 27, but the winner of the contest is expected to be announced during the televised ceremony.

Social-media analytics company Diesel Labs provided Insider on Thursday with data to predict the potential winner of the contest, by analyzing tweets mentioning the two hashtags since the contest began last month.

The analysis does not include data from Thursday, which is the final day that public can vote on this award. It also it does not account for votes submitted through the Academy’s online form.

But the five movies that Diesel Labs found to be in the lead were also on the Academy’s own leaderboard for the fan-favorite award, and it provides a good idea of what could be named the winner. 

Through Wednesday, with one day left to vote, Netflix’s Zack Snyder-directed zombie-action movie “Army of the Dead” was in the lead, followed by Amazon Prime Video’s “Cinderella.”

Snyder’s other movie released last year, HBO Max’s “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” is ineligible to win the fan-favorite award, because it is not among the list of Oscars-eligible movies from 2021 that was released by the Academy.

But Diesel Labs found that the movie, if it were eligible, would be ranked sixth in the voting through Wednesday and was the top ineligible movie.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the highest-grossing movie at the worldwide box office in 2021, also made the list.

Below are the top movies leading the Oscars’ fan-favorite Twitter vote through Wednesday, ranked:

5. “Tick, Tick…Boom!”

Number of Oscars nominations: Two 

• Actor (Andrew Garfield)
• Film editing

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 87%

What critics said: “With ‘Tick, Tick … Boom,’ Miranda celebrates the power and the pressure of the world he loves most, and he’s picked a subject who encapsulates those warring dynamics perfectly.” — The Atlantic

4. “Minamata”

Number of Oscars nominations: None

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 77%

What critics said: “Minamata is weighed down by self-important direction that loses the human beings in this story by prioritizing the headlines.” — RogerEbert.com

3. “Spider-Man: No Way Home”

Number of Oscars nominations: One

• Visual effects

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 93%

What critics said: “Like almost every Marvel production, this one is too long and, at two and a half hours, overstays its welcome. But before that, the movie nicely snaps and pops.” — New York Times

2. “Cinderella”

Number of Oscars nominations: None

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 42%

What critics said: “It’s frankly galling that a princess movie is this utterly lacking in grandeur.” — Polygon

1. “Army of the Dead”

Number of Oscars nominations: None

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 67%

What critics said: “Zack Snyder lives for excessive storytelling by stuffing as many insignificant details into his stories as possible.” — io9