Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster “Oppenheimer” is nominated for Best Picture. Cillian Murphy is nominated for Best Actor for his starring role in the film. (photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

How many will tune in to watch the 96th Academy Awards this Sunday? Over the last decade, that number moved like the tide. In 2023, 18.7 million tuned in, up from 2022’s 16.6 million. Both are certainly improvements to 2021’s peculiar 10.4 million, though all recent years pale compared to the 40 million watching 10 years ago, slowly declining since then.

It’s hard to ignore possible similarities between declining or at least uneven viewership and the post-pandemic box office. Mind you, nature is healing. Annual domestic totals keep rising, up 20.9% from 2022 to last year. And 2023’s $8,906,654,129 isn’t that far from 2019’s $11,363,360,031. What’s missing? Blockbusters reaching $1 billion worldwide. In 2019, nine films surpassed that mark, while only six have done so in the past three years.

The Oscars celebrate the best of the year, but 2023’s lows are pungent. Warner Bros. released four DC movies that encountered unforgiving moviegoers. “Fast X” almost reached a similar outcome, but international spectators saved the day. But entries for “Mission: Impossible,” “Transformers” and “Hunger Games” made only minor waves.

As for Marvel, the box office juggernaut faltered. “The Marvels,” a sequel to a billion-dollar film, ended its theatrical run early, and the third “Ant-Man” earned four Razzie nominations, the first time a Marvel Studios flick has been called out for poor filmmaking. (DC’s been there for several years now.)

Again, the Oscars should be a time to honor unique films like “Poor Things” and “Past Lives,” or the remarkable performances in “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “The Holdovers.” But so many headlines bleed, declare the near death of public exhibition. And apparently streaming and mass audience’s small-minded aesthetic are to blame.

Perhaps, the public would do well to broaden their reel palette. Martin Scorsese certainly thinks so, once taking to the Los Angeles Times to pen his defense of “Nightmare Alley,” a best pic nom that endured an underwhelming box office run. But to blame streaming simplifies matters. It assumes folks just don’t want to go out if allegedly great films premiere at home.

Perhaps a simpler reason exists. All those blockbuster hopefuls from 2022 and 2023, or at least most of them, just aren’t very good. Perhaps moviegoers and streaming aren’t the enemies to the film medium. Maybe there’s been a dip in quality.

Not sure what’s happened, but choices have been made. Questionable choices. Terrible choices. Not even the mighty Pixar can land a win. Of course, good films still exist, plenty of them represented this Sunday. But those big films that indirectly fund passion projects and arthouse films just aren’t returning quite yet.

OK, that’s not entirely the case. During the summer, two notable films made major waves when they premiered on the same weekend. Remember Barbenheimer, that cultural moment on the July 21 weekend when both Universal’s “Oppenheimer” and Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” competed for the top slot. “Barbie” won, eventually leading the year with $1.4 billion worldwide, while a biopic became the second most profitable R-rated film worldwide, nearly reaching that billion mark.

And both of those films face off again Sunday night. Their joint popularity, could this mean an uptick in viewership? That tide is unpredictable, but there’s precedent. When the public cares about possible outcomes, they’re more likely to watch, much like the record-high 57 million who watched “Titanic” win at the 1998 Oscars.

Only one outcome can help moviegoing heal: a tie. That’s right, Barbenheimer should win best picture. That moment serves as hope that moviegoing can return to normal. All it takes is well-made films. Ignore all the complaints about superhero fatigue, sequels, reboots, prequels and IP. They’re a red herring. The answer is good filmmaking. And it comes in the form of bright, bubbly comedies and bleak historical fiction.

Please Oscar, honor the year’s best equally. That should bring those numbers up, and serve as a reminder to film execs that good stories will be rewarded with ticket sales, while mediocre ones will no longer be able to slip by.

Margot Robbie stars in the blockbuster “Barbie,” which is deserving of recognition as one of the best films of the year. (photo courtesy of Warner Bros.)