Critics Choice Super Awards To Honor Fan-Friendly Genre Movies & TV Shows; Set To Air In January On The CW

The Critics Choice Awards is launching its own sequel by moving to create a completely separate broadcast TV kudos show that ought to be welcome news for fans.

The organization today announced the Critics Choice Super Awards, which will air January 10 as a special on the CW Network. It will honor “fan obsessed” genres superhero, science fiction/fantasy, horror, action and animation for both movies and television.

Similar to what the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror’s Saturn Awards have been doing since 1973 for feature films (and more recently adding TV and home video categories as well), the Critics Choice version hopes to gain more traction for these genres by expanding the visibility with a splashy televised awards show and putting their own spin on it because nominees and winners will actually be selected by a legitimate group of critics. (Full Disclosure: I am a member of CCA and President of the Film division.) The CW is a natural fit, not only because it already airs the annual Critics Choice Awards (the 26th annual show is March 7) but also has a steady diet of this type of genre programming on its air.

Fans long have been frustrated by the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys routinely relegating these genres generally to crafts categories and not taking them seriously as worthy of their top awards. That has been changing slightly in recent years as 2018’s Black Panther became the first comic book-origin film to snag a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and HBO found great Emmy success with the likes of Game of Thrones and Watchmen, but these might be the exceptions, not the rule. The Critics Choice Awards themselves actually have been one the few trophy shows to honor some of these genre categories but now are giving them their own network spotlight instead.

“The time has come to recognize the brilliance, creativity and artistic excellence showcased in genres that, for far too long, have been overlooked by other award shows,” said Critic’s Choice Association CEO Joey Berlin, who oversees the organization that previously expanded further into the awards sphere with its Real TV and Documentary spinoffs, as well as the Celebration of Black Cinema. “We are thrilled to be partnering with our friends at the CW to bring these beloved genres to the forefront and give them the recognition they so deeply deserve.”

The inaugural awards show will be produced by Bob Bain Productions.

“We’re excited to broadcast the first Critics Choice Super Awards at the CW to showcase and celebrate the excellence in often overlooked genres during the entertainment industry’s award season,” said Gaye Hirsch, the network’s EVP Development, who also oversees alternative and special programming. “We look forward to bringing viewers an exciting event filled with the films, series and stars they are most passionate about.”

The window of eligibility for the Super Awards is January 1-December 31, 2020. Finding enough entries shouldn’t be a problem in the TV categories, but the coronavirus-fueled production shutdown and theater closures have taken a huge toll on these big, expensive studio genre films in 2020; the vast majority have been pushed into 2021 and beyond in hopes of things getting back to normal at the box office and for theatrical exhibition, a must considering the cost of making and marketing this type of film. Aiming for a Christmas Day debut, Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 1984 sequel is the sole major superhero movie still left on the 2020 release schedule. Whether that sticks or even could be shown in time to qualify before CCSA nominations are announced on November 19 is unknown. The studio’s Tenet, though, looks to be a major player here, now almost two months into its worldwide release. With all of these tentpoles pushed out of this year, and even some like The Batman, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Avatar II being shuttled even further, the future beyond 2020 looks like it could be the mother lode for the new Critics Choice Super Awards as these kinds of fan-favorite movies likely will be jockeying for attention in an even greater competitive environment than ever before.

CRITICS CHOICE SUPER AWARDS TIMELINE

October 12: Submissions open

November 8: Submissions close

November 9: Nomination Committees begin consideration

November 19: Critics Choice Super Awards nominations announced

December 4: Final ballots go out

December 6: Deadline for returning final ballots

CRITICS CHOICE SUPER AWARDS MOVIE CATEGORIES

Best Action Movie

Best Male Actor in an Action Movie

Best Female Actor in an Action Movie

Best Animated Movie