How we traded one King of Pop for 10 best-picture nominees.

For cultural prognosticators, what might be interesting about the Bulging Upper Body is that it shows there is plenty of room for cultural products—I hate saying "products" when I mean "movies, music, books, and the like," but there's no better word here—whose appeal is somewhat less than universal, but somewhat greater than niche-y. If you long for a time when we could all do the moonwalk together, this might feel daunting.

But if you are a cultural grazer, it is not. The Fat Middle welcomes grazers: Everything in it is accessible; nothing is mandatory. This, to my mind, is a good thing. If it comes at the cost of there never being another Michael Jackson ... well, one tragic King of Rock and Roll and one tragic King of Pop seems like all the subjects can handle. You'll have all next week to bid goodbye to him and his cultural moment of the mega-hit. And if you need more time, never fear. Without a doubt, the Academy will find a way to shoehorn him into next year's Oscars. Between all those best-picture clips in the era of the Fat Middle, there's lots of room to fill at the show.

Thanks to Box Office Mojo for movie ticket sales data.