Hollywood once sold movie tickets with movie stars. Now, with streaming a click away and theaters counting on event releases like The Odyssey and fresh concepts like A24’s Backrooms, getting audiences into seats has become a different kind of production. John Malkovich has an intriguing theory about who is helping keep the lights on: the Oscar campaign machine.

The veteran actor’s view puts awards-season spending under a fresh spotlight, suggesting Hollywood’s biggest theatrical draw may be less about the films than the race surrounding them.

Hollywood is discovering that getting people into theaters takes more than a promising trailer and a few famous faces. At a Sunday afternoon talk during the BFI London Film Festival, John Malkovich offered a blunt assessment of the changing movie business, arguing that Oscar campaigns have become essential to attracting audiences. The veteran actor also explained how dramatically the industry has changed since his early career.

“Now, it is the only way to get people to go to the theaters, the whole thing, and that’s months and months and months,” he said.

Malkovich's own Oscar experience offered a glimpse of how much the business has changed. After earning a nomination for Places in the Heart, he attended the 1985 ceremony and wondered whether he could slip in through a side entrance. His manager, Phyllis, quickly shut down that idea with a memorable reminder that there was no sneaking into the Oscars.

The actor also remembered when films could make their money before Oscar night, unlike the industry's growing reliance on awards recognition to drive ticket sales. Yet Malkovich is not simply mourning Hollywood's changing fortunes. At 72, he accepts that the business must evolve, explaining that people can either adapt to change or risk being left behind.

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Malkovich is not ready to call it a career after an Oscar, and the changing theater business might explain why he has a point.

John Malkovich is hardly sitting on the sidelines of the Oscar race while questioning its growing importance to Hollywood. The 72-year-old actor is currently campaigning for Best Actor recognition for Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, with Searchlight Pictures backing the film’s awards-season push. His own experience makes his comments particularly fascinating, as he navigates the very machinery he believes theaters increasingly depend on.

Malkovich has also made it clear that he intends to keep working rather than dwell on how Hollywood used to operate. His Oscar push for Wild Horse Nine comes as he reflects on an industry where awards recognition increasingly matters to theatrical success. With his latest performance drawing attention during festival season, the veteran actor has plenty of reasons to reflect on what has changed.

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