Tuesday
28Oct2008
'Wall-E' Poised for Best Picture Push?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 10:05AM
In a new article discussing Hollywood's move away from
small, "independent" films as potential Oscar powerhouses this year - a
reflection of audience ambivalence from the lowest-rated Academy Awards in
history earlier this year -
The New York Times points out that we'll see
Oscar pushes for The Dark Knight, Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder,
possibly Downey for Best Actor in Iron Man (really?), and
Wall-E.
I'm a little surprised at the backflips some writers appear to be doing over this story a couple months early. Even if Wall-E gets a nomination, it wouldn't be the first time. We all know Beauty and the Beast pulled that off back in the '90s, and we know that because animated films now have their own category - which they did not at that time - it is harder to get the consideration for Best Picture.
I can't blame Disney for wanting to give this a push, because it's not one of their biggest money makers, believe it or not. Its $180 million price tag is by far the highest in Disney's animated catalog, and while it has finally begun to make money overseas (it only brought in $220 million in the U.S.), the profit margin is lower than every other movie in the top 20 grossing animated films but The Polar Express.So Disney could use Oscar word-of-mouth to push the DVD and vice versa. The disc comes out November 18th, and having it back on the shelves could remind Oscar voters of where it stands among 2008 films (pretty high), and that in turn could sell even more DVDs when the nominations are announced.
Of course, we still have two months and over a dozen Oscar-bait movies left to see. I have no doubt that Wall-E would get that Best Picture nomination today, but will it in January? Regaining momentum in these campaigns is harder to do than being the big thing of the moment, like Juno and No Country for Old Men were late last year.If Australia's good and Benjamin Button's good and if Revolutionary Road is good and the Oscars sneak in a small film like The Wrestler or Slumdog Millionaire, then I think voters will once again see that there's an award just for animated movies and vote for Wall-E in that category.
I'm not saying that's fair, but I would wager it's more likely.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Academy Awards, Animation, Disney, Pixar, Wall-E | Print Article | Email Article | 6 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (6)
If Ratatouille, which is a much better film than Wall-E, can't get a Best Picture nomination, I don't see why Wall-E would. I think The Dark Knight is more deserving anyway.
P.S. People are getting their hopes up with Robert Downey Jr getting nominated for Tropic Thunder and/or Iron Man.
I'm okay with the Academy looking at more mainstream movies if they are good, but I don't want to see the Oscars turn into the MTV movie awards just to boost ratings.
Wall-E was a well crafted picture, but if it gets nominated for best picture, I would be pissed if I were involved in a non-animated movie that might have deserved the nomination more than Wall-E. Let's hope that Wall-E's story isn't one of the top 5 movies of 2008. If so, that says a lot about the movie industry this year. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Wall-E...but...
WALL-E is okay, i can see a Oscar nom, but not a win. And Robert Downey was terrific in Ironman and as well as Tropic Thunder, so i don't see where all the shock is coming from.
No shock for Tropic Thunder but he shouldn't get within a mile of an Oscar for Iron Man. He was a great fit for the role, but it's not really worthy of gold. If he were to get a nomination in that category over Richard Jenkins for The Visitor, that just wouldn't be accurate.
I loved WALL-E but like you said, how this news when the same thing happens every year is beyond me. Nothing against Pixar or the movie itself but it's hard to see why this is noteworthy or surprising to anyone.
"I'm a little surprised at the backflips some writers appear to be doing over this story a couple months early."
Independent thought seems to have been scratched off the requisite list of for people running movie news sites any more. Thank you for not following the herd, just because. Articles like this are the reason this site is not only one of my favorites but one of the best.