Another Academy Awards MISFIRE: Hollywood wants to reward under-watched cinema when the masses want Tom Cruise

Oscars organizers want this weekend’s gala to have more mainstream appeal and draw in an audience, having watched viewership fall over the past decade.

To that end, more box office hits like Top Gun: Maverick have been nominated for Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards than in recent years.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the producers of a fan-favorite will grace the stage for top honors Sunday night at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater.

Analysis by DailyMail.com reveals a chasm between the hit films loved by the masses and the little-watched films bookmakers are predicting will emerge from the envelope at the end of the night.

We compared a recent YouGov poll of around 2,000 US moviegoers to their favorites to win the Best Picture award, according to sportsbooks FanDuel and DraftKings.

Our chart shows how US popcorn munchers are deeply at odds with the nearly 9,500 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

American theatergoers are saying Top Gun: Maverick was set to win best picture at Sunday night’s Academy Awards. Pictured: Tom Cruise reprises his role as the bad boy fighter pilot

It shows that most regular theatergoers want the top prize to go to Top Gun: Maverick, last year’s box office hit starring Tom Cruise, who reprises his role as the evil fighter pilot.

Instead, the bookies say Academy members will most likely pick Everything Everywhere All At Once, a absurdist sci-fi indie game about a Chinese-American immigrant family.

The same applies to second place. Real-world audiences are raving about James Cameron’s computer-generated blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water, the most expensive film of all time.

Instead, the bookies say that the next most likely winner is The Banshees of Inisherin.

Set in the 1920s on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, the tragic comedy just barely made the top 100 at the box office last year.

The pattern continues. However, the bookies third most likely winner is the acclaimed anti-war epic All Quiet on the Western Front, a foreign language film in German and French.

Our chart shows how US popcorn munchers are deeply at odds with the nearly 9,500 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The stark disparity between top-grossing audience favorites and Academy rewards has been a growing problem in recent years.

Like other awards shows, the Oscars have been steadily losing viewers, especially among younger people who cling to social media.

In 2014, a whopping 41.7 million people watched the ceremony, according to media watchdog Nielsen.

Last year, just 15.4 million people saw a gala more notable for Will Smith’s slapping of Chris Rock than any of the awards presented.

DailyMail.com columnist Maureen Callahan says the “woke” Oscars have been overwhelmed by “whiny, smug” celebrities delivering “irritating tokens of virtue” that make the annual shindig obsolete.

This year’s outing will be peppered with moments suitable for sharing on Twitter and TikTok, organizers say.

A correspondent rehearses as preparations are underway for the 95th Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, beginning Sunday at 8 p.m. EST

Contestants for this year’s Best Picture category include All Quiet on the Western Front and Triangle of Sadness

Bookies say the most likely movie to win the Best Picture award is Everywhere All At Once, a absurdist sci-fi indie hype about a Chinese-American immigrant family

Show producer Ricky Kirshner said there have been efforts to host a more relevant event featuring better known films after years of criticism that only boring, heartfelt films made the cut.

“We’re there to entertain and to highlight the great films of this year, a lot of which people have seen, which is great for us,” Kirshner said this week.

The top image winners of recent years have been criticized for being boring and overly virtuous indie picks that appeal to industry insiders but struggle to draw large crowds.

Last year’s winner, CODA, for example, offered a snapshot of life in a deaf family.

Other recent winners include Nomadland, about a woman in her 60s who lives in a van, and Green Book, about a working-class bouncer who drives a black pianist on a tour of the 1960s American South.

The academy’s botch in their best image selection was underscored in 2017.

Real audiences are more enthusiastic than the critics about James Cameron’s computer-generated blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water

Although lesser known, All Quiet on the Western Front, a German and French language foreign language film, is popular with critics and those who have seen it

The hit musical La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner, only for the award to go to Moonlight, which explores the identity and sexuality of a young black man.

That doesn’t mean the Academy always calls it wrong — YouGov’s poll highlighted recent instances where the Best Picture award went to films adored by average gamers.

Unfortunately, they are mostly in the rearview mirror.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the most popular best movie winner in recent years, either “loved” or “liked” by a staggering 92 percent of Americans.

But that was 20 years ago, in 2003.

Other popular top category winners include Ridley Scott’s epic Gladiator (which won in 2001), The King’s Speech (2011) and Cameron’s shipwreck disaster Titanic (1998).

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who helped heal the 2017 mix-up when the wrong best picture winner was announced, will again host this year’s ceremony.

It airs on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, and Fubo TV with a subscription.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the most popular best movie winner in recent years, either “loved” or “liked” by a staggering 92 percent of Americans. But that was 20 years ago, in 2003.