Fox Launches Oscars Best Picture Campaign For ‘War For The Planet Of The Apes’
Another genre film is entering this year’s Oscar race. After the news that Warner Bros. is launching a massive Best Picture and Best Directorcampaign for its runaway hit of the summer,Wonder Woman, 20th Century Fox is gearing up for battle with its ownWar for the Planet of the ApesOscar push for Best Picture.
Fox is planning to launch one of the biggest Oscar campaigns in the studio’s history, throwing its weight behind the beloved third film in thePlanet of the Apesreboot series.
ThePlanet of the Apesseries has been acknowledged by the Academy Awards to some degree, picking up nods in technical categories like the original 1968 film’s special Oscar for make-up achievement, as well as costume and music score nominations. The newApesfilms have only received nods for visual effects, despite their growing level of prestige and critical acclaim. It’s still a travesty thatAndy Serkis' revelatory mo-cap performances as Caesar in bothRise of the Planet of the ApesandDawn of the Planet of the Apeshave achieved little to recognition in awards circles.
Now 20th Century Fox is catching onto the buzz forMatt Reeves' capper to the Caesar trilogy, pushing for nominations with the various awards groups — such as SAG or critics awards — to try to land that coveted Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards, according toDeadline. This includes a campaign for all the technical awards in addition to Director and Adapted Screenplay categories, and perhaps a “concerted effort” for a special award for Serkis.
Deadline reports:
In every way Fox will be launching a campaign to “make it about the movie,” as one person associated with the film has told me, and they have also hired a couple of top awards consultants to concentrate on efforts in just getting the filmseenby members. They feel, based on response since its opening July 14, that the movie itself will take care of the rest.
Former Fox chief and a producer ofWar For The Planet Of The ApesPeter Chernin told Deadline that he believes the film, which currently boasts a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, could easily secure a nomination because of its transcendence of the genre film:
“I’m incredibly proud of this movie, and I do believe that on almost any level of storytelling, character development, narrative thrusts, or epic-ness, this is an extraordinary movie. In the past people probably have tended to sort of genre-ize it and sort of look at it, well, as if it is a genre movie and not take it as seriously as they should, and I think that you know our view is that this movie deserves serious consideration. Certainly it’s been made with a level of ambition, care, and attention that’s as meaningful as anything I’ve ever worked on.”
While the push for a genre film likeWar for the Planet of the Apesto get a Best Picture nomination isn’t unusual — genre films likeMad Max: Fury Roadhave been making leeway in the category sinceThe Dark Knightstarted a conversation about genre movies at the awards nearly a decade ago — it would be a first for a blockbuster film to be acknowledged for its mo-cap performances. Serkis helped spearhead the technology as Gollum in theLord of the Ringstrilogy, but received no recognition for that despite the eerie and provocative performance he gave.War for the Planet of the Apesrelies heavily on mo-cap technology, and its ability to bring out raw and emotive performances from its actors and mesh them with the work of talented visual effects artists. If the technology and Serkis' impact on this new form of acting can be acknowledged, it would be a huge win at the Oscars — which has often shown a preference toward historical prestige flicks or character dramas.
This year’s Oscar race is looking to be one of the most varied we’ve seen in ages, with blockbusters likeLogan, Wonder Woman,andWar for the Planet of the Apespicking up awards season buzz, and small genre films likeGet OutandThe Big Sickmaintaining their critical momentum as we roll into the fall.
