Oscar bait success of summer blockbusters like "Jaws" and "Star Wars" (both of which had also been nominated for Best Picture), independent filmmakers refined Carr's methods of exploiting the Oscars. Merchant Ivory, who produced lavish costume dramas, often based on novels by Henry James or E. M. Forster, began to time their releases to align with the awards season. Their 1985 adaptation of Forster's "A Room with a View" won three of the eight Oscars it was nominated for. By 1991 the modern film-release calendar, in which studios released the movies they had the highest Oscar hopes for in autumn and December,
Mrs. Puff that episodes about Mrs. Puff's Boating School were fan favorites. Scott Lecter of "DVD Talk" said in his review of the show's first theatrical film that Mrs. Puff, Sandy and Squidward "make for some of the biggest laughs in the episodes". Francis Rizzo of "DVD Talk" called Mrs. Puff's voice "spot-on" thanks to "the perfectly cast Mary Jo Catlett". Mary Jo Catlett's voiceover work as Mrs. Puff was nominated for a 2001 Annie Award in the category Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production. Tom Kenny was nominated at the same ceremony