海角大神

The 2015 Hollywood Film Awards recently honored such films and performers as 鈥淭he Danish Girl鈥� and 鈥淐oncussion鈥� actor Will Smith.

The prizes are viewed by some in the industry as the beginning of the end-of-the-year awards season. Because the Hollywood Film Awards are held before some of the biggest awards season contenders are released, they sometimes honor movies before the films themselves hit theaters.

This year, Smith received the Hollywood Actor Award for his film 鈥淐oncussion,鈥� while the Hollywood Actress Award went to Carey Mulligan for her work in the recent film 鈥淪uffragette.鈥� The Hollywood Supporting Actor prize went to 鈥淪icario鈥� actor Benicio Del Toro, while the Hollywood Supporting Actress Award went to Jane Fonda for the film 鈥淵outh.鈥� Joel Edgerton won the Hollywood Breakout Actor Award for his role in "Black Mass," while "Danish" actress Alicia Vikander won the Hollywood Breakout Actress prize.

The Hollywood Director honor was given to Tom Hooper for his movie 鈥淭he Danish Girl.鈥澛�

What bearing, if any, will these have on the Oscars, which are often viewed as the most prestigious film prizes? Last year, the winners did give some indication of what was to come when the Oscars arrived. Actress Julianne Moore won the Best Actress Oscar for her work in the film 鈥淪till Alice鈥� and she picked up the Hollywood Actress prize as well. Eddie Redmayne, who won the Oscar for Best Actor, won the Hollywood Breakout Performance award for an actor, showing early support for his work in the movie 鈥淭he Theory of Everything.鈥澛�

Meanwhile, in 2013, the same actors who took the Hollywood Actor and Hollywood Actress prizes, 鈥淒allas Buyers Club鈥� actor Matthew McConaughey ended up winning the Oscar in his category and Jared Leto, who won the award for a breakthrough performance by an actor, took the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The "breakthrough" awards can be indicators of winners as much as the main Hollywood Award categories are.

However, as one might assume, it鈥檚 still early in the awards season. With Redmayne鈥檚 honor, for example, his prize for a 鈥渂reakout鈥� performance showed his work was gaining traction, but the Hollywood Actor award went to Benedict Cumberbatch for 鈥淭he Imitation Game,鈥� a film that had some support early on in the Oscar season (actress Keira Knightley won the Hollywood Supporting Actress Award for her work in the movie last year), but was less noticed later in the year compared to movies such as 鈥淏oyhood鈥� and 鈥淏irdman,鈥� which were widely viewed as the two top contenders for the Best Picture prize. Much can change between early November and late February or early March, which is when the Oscars usually air.聽

This year, the prizes went mainly to actors whose films have already been released, showing that these movies are uppermost in the minds of the committee which gave out the awards. Movies like 鈥淪icario鈥� and 鈥淪uffragette鈥� were released this fall, so they could be forgotten by the end of the year. That鈥檚 the reason there can be such a pile-up of awards season hopefuls on, for example, Christmas Day 鈥� those in Hollywood presumably believe voters will remember most the movie they just saw. Last year, awards season hopefuls "Unbroken," "Big Eyes," "Into the Woods," "American Sniper," and "Selma" all came out on Dec. 25.

However, Smith being honored for 鈥淐oncussion,鈥� which won鈥檛 hit theaters until late December, is interesting. His performance is already being talked about enough that those behind the Hollywood Film Awards went with him.

Meanwhile, outside of those who follow every step of awards season, how much is the public paying attention to the movies that win the Oscar Best Picture prize?

It has been some time since a true box office blockbuster won the award 鈥� the last could be said to be the 2003 movie 鈥淭he Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.鈥�

Since then, however, some of the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners of all time have been within the last several years.鈥淭he Hurt Locker,鈥� in 2009, is still the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner of all time, with last year鈥檚 winner, 鈥淏irdman,鈥� close behind. 聽鈥淭he Artist鈥� in 2011, is also one of the lowest-grossing winners, as is 2013鈥檚 鈥�12 Years a Slave.鈥澛�

A couple of hits have been selected as the best film of the year by the Academy, however. 2012鈥檚 鈥淎rgo鈥� was a big hit, as was 2010鈥檚 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Speech.鈥�