History of the Cosmique Movie Awards

History of the Cosmique Movie Awards

The Cosmo Award The Cosmique Movie Awards were founded in 2001 by a group of friends in San Francisco in reaction to the Academy Awards. At a 2001 Academy Awards party, ballots were handed out for attendees to vote on their favorite movies, performances, performers, characters, and movie scenes of all time. As this was the inaugural year for the awards, the Board of Governors decided that a fair amount of catching up was needed, so the nominations were open to films of all time, rather than those released that calendar year. Subsequent years have focused on films released the previous calendar year (with the exception of a few lifetime achievement awards each year).

Each year, members of the Academy vote in two rounds. In the first round, members may vote for up to five different films or performers in each category. They may also cast a "power vote" for one of their five nominees to give it extra weight. The top five films or performances (or more if there is a tie) are nominated, and a second round of voting occurs to choose which of the nominees will win in each category.

2001: The First Annual Cosmique Movie Awards - Lifetime Achievement Awards

The first year, the awards celebrated the best films, performances, performers, characters, and scenes of all time. The awards attempted to combine the glamour and sophistocation of the Academy Awards with the irreverance and humor of the MTV Movie Awards. Traditional categories included Cosmo awards for Best Film, Best Actor and Actress, and the best films by genre. But less traditional categories were also included, such as Best Screen Kiss, Actor You Would Most Like to Have Sex With, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Queer Role.

During the nomination round, voters could cast five votes per category. No restrictions were placed on duplication. A voter could choose to show the breadth of their appreciation by casting nominations for five different films or performers, or he could focus his appreciation by casting multiple nomination votes for the same nominee. The intent was to measure favoratism not only by breadth of support across the voters but also by depth of passion. The approach had mixed results; in more than one instance, a nominee supported by the passion of only one or two voters later went home with the coveted Cosmo. But in other cases, a film whose popularity was less widespread received a number of nominations but failed to receive a single award.

In the second round of voting, the top five (or more, in the event of a tie) nominees were presented to voters a second time to choose which would win. The nominee that received the highest number of votes won, even if it only received a plurality of votes and not an outright majority. In the event of a tie, all of the tied nominees received the award. By a strange quirk of fate, in some cases this resulted in several winners in a single category, including one embarrassing defeat for a nominee that was the sole nominee to fail to receive an award in that category.

That year, lifetime achievement awards were issued in over fifty categories. In addition, the winners of the top three awards - Best Film of All Time, Best Actress of All Time, and Best Actor of All Time - were inducted into the Cosmique Movie Hall of Fame.

2002: The Second Annual Cosmique Movie Awards - Honoring the Best and Worst of 2001

This was the second year for the Cosmo awards. Unlike the first year, which was dedicated to lifetime achievements, this year was predominately focused on films released in the United States in 2001. The three Hall of Fame categories returned to allow another film, actor, and actress to be inducted. Two additional lifetime achievement categories were also presented to cover topics - Best Director and Best Script - that had been omitted the first year. But the bulk of the awards focused on 2001 films.

That year, forty-five different filns received one or more nominations. Moulin Rouge, Gosford Park, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring all vied for the top honor - not only for the best film of the year, but also for the most decorated. Moulin Rouge technically received the most nominations, but only eleven of the thirteen were in positive categories. Gosford Park's twelve and Fellowship's eleven nominations, all in positive categories, made them strong contenders for the top prizes.

Moulin Rouge ended up performing poorly, winning only two Cosmos (for Best Comedy/Musical and Best Costuming/Make-Up). In two categories, its nominations were diluted. Jim Broadbent was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for both Moulin Rouge and Iris, while Nicole Kidman's Moulin Rouge performance was competing against her performance in The Others. In addition, the film had almost as many detractors as it did supporters; Kidman's performance was also nominated for Worst Performance, and the film was paradoxically nominated for both Best and Worst film.

Fellowship and Gosford Park split the awards in many of the other categories. Each won awards in six categories, including tying for Best Picture. But Gosford Park technically took home the most awards; it's two nominees, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith, tied with each other for Best Supporting Actress. Smith also surprised pundits by being the second actress to be inducted into the Cosmique Movie Academy's Hall of Fame, joining Katharine Hepburn who had been inducted the previous year.

2003: The Third Annual Cosmique Movie Awards - Honoring the Best and Worst of 2002

In April of 2003, we announced the winners of the Third Annual Cosmique Movie Awards. Chicago, which earned 16 nominations, took home the top honor of Best Film of 2002 along with two other awards: Best Director and Best Comedy/Musical. It also was a big beneficiary of the new Ratings Ballot, a special ballot in which voters would give a numeric rating to each film released that year, regardless whether or not it achieved any nominations, and those ratings would be used for three new awards: Most Watched, Highest Rated, and Most Popular. Based on that new ballot, Chicago was also awarded Most Popular and Most Watched. But it was The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers that stole the show, receiving a record 21 nominations and taking home a record nine awards.

2004: The Fourth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards - Honoring the Best and Worst of 2003

The winners for the Fourth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards were announced on April 3rd, 2004, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King dominated with a new record, winning 12 of its 26 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Drama, and Best Supporting Actor (Sean Astin), and sweeping all three of the ratings awards: Highest Rated, Most Watched, and Most Popular.

The other top nominees included X2: X-Men United (15 nominations), which only picked up a single award; Big Fish, which took home awards for two of its 12 nominations, including Best Comedy/Musical; and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which won three of its 12 nominations, including Best Actor. Lost in Translation received 9 nominations and won two of them, including Best Supporting Actress (Scarlett Johannson). In addition to The Return of the King, other Best Film of 2003 nominations went to Big Fish, Finding Nemo, In America, and Lost in Translation. For a complete list of the nominations and winner, please see:

Nominees and Winners - Lists by category the nominees and winners for the Fourth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards
Top Nominees - Lists the top-nominated films, in descending order of number of nominations
Nominated Films - Provides an alphabetic list of the films nominated for the Fourth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards
Nominated Individuals - Provides an alphabetic list of the individuals nominated for performing and directing

2005: The Fifth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards - Honoring the Best and Worst of 2004

Although the number of categories was expanded to 42, no new records were set. Spider-Man 2 leads the pack with 11 nominations, though none of them are in major categories. Best Picture nominees include The Aviator (nine nominations), Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut (one), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (seven positive and one negative), Fahrenheit 9/11 (four), Garden State (10), and Million Dollar Baby (four).

Nominees and Winners - Lists by category the nominees for the Fifth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards
Top Nominees - Lists the top-nominated films, in descending order of number of nominations
Nominated Films - Provides an alphabetic list of the films nominated for the Fourth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards
Nominated Individuals - Provides an alphabetic list of the individuals nominated for performing and directing