Re: Can the backlash stop La La Land before it's too late?
So the momentum was indeed shifting away from La La Land but to Moonlight.
The momentum for something other than La La Land was clearly there as the end result shows. My argument that it was shifting to Hidden Figures may have been incorrect, but I feel like indirectly it may have impacted La La Land a bit.
For general audiences, I feel like everyone now has heard or loved Hidden Figures, but I'd imagine the first time many had heard of Moonlight was because of the whole mess for Best Picture. The Academy knew that Moonlight was a much better film to award than Hidden Figures but I definitely think Hidden Figures indirectly helped Moonlight by taking some of the shine off La La Land in the public consciousness. The sheer amount of coverage Hidden Figures got with the public, as well as previous years' controversy may have helped some Academy members move towards Moonlight.
In Jan/Feb, Hidden Figures clearly become the "pop culture film." La La Land did just a bit less than Hidden Figures box office wise but just from sheer social media, press coverage, etc. I feel like general audiences will remember HF more so in the end as a movie of the times while La La Land felt like the prestige flick you had to see but catered more so to the arts crowd.