The latest Up ads, found in trade papers like Variety, have made it apparent that Disney/Pixar’s For Your Consideration campaign has taken a major turn.
Remember, the big push for Best Picture? Well, Pixar finally got the coveted nomination but now the studio is pushing for the more likely win: Best Animated Feature, a category which Pixar unquestionably dominates. One of the recent ads (straying away from ‘Picture’) can be seen to the right while another features young Carl and Ellie holding hands, both with recent accolades listed.
The switch from one major goal to another makes perfect sense. Although Pete Docter’s latest is almost unanimously lauded as one of the year’s best films, the A.M.P.A.S. may not see it as equal to its live-action counterparts because… it’s animated. If enough of the Academy voting pool takes it up the ranks in Best Picture it’s also possible that they may cast a sympathy vote for something else in the Animated category which in turn would cause Up to lose in both.
So does this mean we should say goodbye to the top prize for good? Not necessarily, what has been done is just the smart and strategic move. After all, there’s still hope and time for a miracle, making Up the first animated Best Picture winner, as unlikely as that is! Final Oscar ballots aren’t due until March 2nd, 2010 so these ads will be relevant for a little under two weeks.
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be presented live March 7th, 2010 on ABC! Check back on Oscar Sunday for our Pixar centric coverage.
What do you think about Disney/Pixar’s target change late this awards season?
(via Awards Daily)
That’s sad. I see the animated feature Avatar is still gunning for best picture. It’s most certainly not the best picture, and in my opinion not even better than Up.
Hurt Locker will probably win Best Picture. Up will win Best Animated Picture.
The Best Picture nomination was in my opinion only made possible by the extension to ten nominees. A win there will indeed be quite the miracle, so there’s nothing bad with Disney being realistic about it.
That said, I’m still hoping for a Best Original Screenplay win, although that would be kind of a miracle as well…
Actually, since there are ten nominees, the voting process will be different. Voters are not voting on only one film, but instead, they will rank the films based on their preference (first choice, second choice, etc…), although they are not required to fill it up to the tenth choice. This is because the Best Picture prize can be won by garnering only 11%, or even lower, of the total votes (assuming there are 100 members, there are ten films, and 8 films get 10 votes each, one film with 9 votes and the last one with 11 votes— the film with 11 votes obviously wins although 89% of the Academy does not agree). However, with the preferential system, which is explained from this site,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020405097.html
the issue will be resolved. If UP appears repeatedly in 2nd, 3rd or 4th choices, it may just have a shot. It could be far fetched but it might just be possible. Not to keep hopes up but it just might work in favor of UP.
totoro- Up is nominated for Best Picture. We’ve already seen a miracle. Who says we can’t see another?
I wish Disney would have a little more faith in this movie, or at least pretend they do. Are they really worried the movie won’t gain respect if it failed in both BP and BAF because they pushed for BP and failed? That’s ridiculous. 🙁
I honestly can’t be too upset though. A great animated film is nominated for Best Picture. I’m floating in the air over here no matter what happens (pun totally intended.)
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I FOUND AN EXCLUSIVE TOY STORY 3 CLIP FROM THE SWEDISH WEBSITE (IN ENGLISH) ITS ON YOUTUBE!!!! POST IT ON THE BLOG!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39oZ8SnNfG0
That’s not breaking, it’s been on the forums for a while but now it’s finally in better quality, I will post it after the breaking news that I’m working on at this very moment. 🙂 Thanks for sending the video along anyway.