• by Wayne Friedman , February 26, 2010

The movie industry still isn't taking much advantage of its biggest TV event: "The Academy Awards" on ABC.

Only two movies will be advertised in the big event this year -- CBS Films' "The Back-up Plan," a romantic comedy starting Jennifer Lopez, as well as two other movies -- one each from Walt Disney and Summit Entertainment.

ABC would not comment, but Walt Disney might be buying a pre-show commercial. The expectation is that Disney will advertise "The Last Song," which stars Miley Cyrus and debuts in April, or possibly "Toy Story 3" coming later in the summer.

Summit Entertainment will tout possibly one of three romantically inclined films: "Remember Me," which comes out next month, "Letters to Juliet," coming in May; or "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which debuts in July.

The 2010 Oscar event will be broadcast on Sunday, March 7.

One main problem remains for movie marketers: While the Oscars is a heavily viewed TV event, it is a premium-priced TV show that targets mostly older females. For years, it has been known as the Super Bowl for Women.

Many movies targeting the older woman demographic don't typically produce big wide-audience, big box-office appeal. The TV-turned-movie franchise "Sex and the City" was a rare effort targeted to older women that hit major revenue levels in 2008, with a box office gross of $152.6 million.

Warner Bros. is launching its second "Sex and the City" movie May 28. But it isn't confirmed, as yet, that the studio will be airing an Oscar commercial.

By contrast, the Super Bowl can pull in movie studios that want to tout their major summer releases. The Super Bowl not only attracts a bigger audience than the Oscars, it brings in more men and younger viewers, who see lots of movies. Typically, five to six different films can make a commercial appearance in the big game.

ABC's somewhat-lower price tag for its big event doesn't seem to be a factor with the cost per 30-second commercial the same versus a year ago, around $1.4 million to $1.5 million. This is down from its high of around $1.7 million to $1.8 million two years ago.

A year ago, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences allowed movie advertising for the first time in the Oscars -- with a host of restrictions. This included movies that could not be a sequel or a prequel. Also, studios are only allowed to advertise one film and one spot in the broadcast -- no block booking of multiple titles.

But not all studios came to buy. So AMPAS loosened some restrictions, such as allowing films to open nearer to the Oscar event. Still, it didn't improve business that much, with only Paramount Pictures' "The Soloist" (a 30-second commercial) and Walt Disney's "The Proposal" (a 60-second commercial).

ABC says those that are in the event in this year -- at least publicly -- include Ameriprise, CBS Films, Coca-Cola, Hershey, Hyundai, JC Penney, Kimberly-Clarke, McDonald's, Church & Dwight's OxiClean, Microsoft, Samsung, Summit Entertainment, Sprint and Walt Disney Pictures.