As we near the end of this summer season, it’s time once again, folks, for a tried-and-true Rhode Island Movie Corner tradition. Yes, as those who’ve followed this site for several years know, I run a poll at the end of every summer that invites you all to vote for your favorite film from the past four months of the year. And after a few weeks of these open polls, I then proceed to write an extensive post that covers every film that earned a vote during the event, occasionally fulfilling my original hope of getting to do something along the lines of a ranked list for the most popular films (though, to be clear, that’s only happened a few times). What started out as, to be perfectly honest, an easy way for me to produce some new content for this site during a rather uneventful September back in 2014 has now gone on to become a full-on staple of Rhode Island Movie Corner… except, of course, for one year. Yes, in 2020, I had to nix that year’s End of Summer Fan Poll for… well, obvious reasons. But thankfully, when 2021 rolled around and we began to slowly but surely recover from the initial stretch of the COVID-19 pandemic, I relaunched this annual event and it was another all-around success for the site. And so, with all that out of the way, it’s time to launch the 9th annual rendition (though, thanks to the cancellation of the 2020 poll, I guess that, technically, this is the 8th edition) of our End of Summer Fan Poll.
For those who are new to this site, here’s how it’ll all go
down. The link that you’ll come to below will lead you to a poll that I’ve set
up on the survey-creating website Survio. There, you’ll be asked a
single question; what was your favorite film from this summer? To all you
newcomers out there, I must warn you in advance that there will be quite a lot
of options to choose from as I basically cover as many of the summer’s wide
releases as I possibly can when assembling the list of possible options.
Admittedly, I do miss a few films here and there but that’s where the write-in
section comes in if your favorite film isn’t listed amongst the available
choices. Now, last year, given the fact that COVID was still enough of a major
issue that it resulted in not many people going out to the theater at that
time, I allowed the following loophole in which votes for that year’s edition
of the poll would be legitimately counted for films that were watched at home
on the grounds that they were also released in theaters. After all, several
2021 films were released that way, simultaneously running in theaters and on
their studios’ respective streaming services; some Disney films were released
as ‘Premier Access’ titles on Disney+ and Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 theatrical
slate saw month-long releases on HBO Max.
While COVID is still very much an issue here in 2022, the
simultaneous theatrical/streaming practice has not been utilized as prominently
as it was last year for various reasons… including, for example, the fact that A
LOT of filmmakers weren’t too happy about the way that Warner Bros. addressed
it. All this, as a result, put me in quite a bit of a pickle for this year’s
End of Summer Fan Poll because, as always, I want to keep this focused solely
on theatrical releases. And so, with that in mind, I’ve decided that the
loophole that I set up for last year’s event where I allowed votes for films
that were seen at home won’t be emphasized as much for this year’s poll but
will still be somewhat in play. In other words, I’ll still allow votes for
films that were seen at home via On-Demand and streaming services but the films
in question must have been released in theaters between the months of May and
August. That said, though, I will allow some exceptions in the write-in section
for films that weren’t initially released during the summer but were still in
theaters by then. Thus, if you haven’t been to the theater this summer for
various reasons that are most likely COVID-related, don’t let that discourage
you from participating in this event; just be aware, though, that I will be
monitoring the write-in responses closely to maintain the whole ‘theatrical releases
only’ rule. Voting starts today, August 18th, and will run until September
1st, with the climactic results post being published shortly
thereafter.
Click here to be directed to this year's poll!!
But before we conclude
today’s introductory post, we must do what we always do and reflect upon this
event’s past winners. That’s right, it’s time once again for…
RHODE
ISLAND MOVIE CORNER’S END OF SUMMER FAN POLL HALL OF FAME
2014
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The inaugural edition
of our annual End of Summer Fan Poll attracted forty-three votes and notably
ended in a three-way tie with the top films attracting five votes apiece. That
year’s winners included the adaptation of author John Green’s tearjerker romance
novel The Fault in Our Stars, a rare example of a ‘superior’
comedic sequel in 22 Jump Street, and the first outing of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe’s resident ‘bunch of a-holes’, the Guardians
of the Galaxy.
2015
While the forty-seven
votes in the 2015 poll went to a wide range of films (20, to be precise), there
was one undisputed champion. Earning more than double the votes of that year’s pair
of runners-up with ten in total, George Miller’s kinetic action masterpiece Mad Max:
Fury Road firmly asserted its status as one of the
most highly acclaimed summer blockbusters of the decade.
2016
Fifty-eight votes
came in for the 2016 edition of our annual poll, which ended in what I’ve
always described as a ‘fascinating’ two-way tie. On one side, you had an
undeniable frontrunner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s thrilling and
emotional Phase Three kick-starter, Captain America: Civil War.
But on the other side, an unexpected champion emerged in the raunchy R-rated comedy
Bad
Moms, starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn as a
trio of overworked moms who decide to spend a day without any maternal
responsibilities.
2017
For the second
straight year in a row, we attracted fifty-eight votes and this year’s event notably
set a record for the number of films featured in its final write-up with twenty-two
films getting some form of recognition. It was also the first year where the
results yielded a proper Top 5 list of winners, with the top prize going to
Christopher Nolan’s war epic Dunkirk, which proved to be one of the
most well-regarded outings of Nolan’s prestigious directorial career.
2018
The 2018 edition of
this poll admittedly saw a downturn in the number of votes at just forty-four
in total, but that year’s winner set an event record with twelve votes as the
top honors went to Spike Lee’s undeniably relevant crime drama BlacKkKlansman,
the true story of former Colorado Springs police officer Ron Stallworth’s infiltration
of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.
2019
2019 was easily our
best year ever for this poll in terms of votes with a whopping eighty-nine
responses. That year’s Top 3 finalists each managed to earn at least ten votes
apiece, with the winner ultimately topping BlacKkKlansman’s
record-setting numbers from the previous year’s event with nineteen votes directed
its way. And given its status as the grand finale of the Infinity Saga and the
fact that, for nearly two whole years, it became the highest-grossing film of all time, it wasn’t too surprising to see Avengers: Endgame
take the #1 spot.
2020
The winner of the
2020 edition of the End of Summer Fan Poll was a notable one… and that’s
because there wasn’t one that year thanks to COVID.
2021
Thankfully, our
annual poll returned with a vengeance last year, garnering sixty-nine votes in
a triumphant comeback that saw Disney’s Cruella, the highly
entertaining and unique new spin on one of Disney’s most iconic villainesses,
Cruella de Vil, take home top honors with sixteen votes.
What film will
be crowned the 2022 champion of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Annual End of
Summer Fan Poll? Stay tuned!
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