Despite the fact that it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet Hollywood is already getting itself ready for the 2011 Academy Awards. Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross has announced that his company will be lobbying hard for their animated film Toy Story 3 to get first a nomination and then, hopefully, a win for the Best Picture Academy Award. Here is our first look at one of the trade magazine ad photos which attempts to inspire Academy Award members to nominate the film for Best Picture and Best Animated Feature:
“We’re going for the Best Picture win. We wanted to have the best movie and the reviews have clearly said that and it’s the number one box office hit of the year so I’m not sure why we would not go for it all,” the Walt Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross told me in a phone conversation this week. He’s talking about their worldwide billion dollar grosser Toy Story 3 which also sits atop Rotten Tomatoes chart of the best reviewed films of the year, at least those in wide release. To that end Disney/Pixar will launch an ambitious advertising campaign aimed squarely at Academy members this week that will blatantly try to associate past Best Picture winners with TS3 by having Toy Story characters enact some iconic images from Oscar winning films like West Side Story, On The Waterfront, Shakespeare In Love, Silence Of The Lambs, Titanic, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King and Forrest Gump … There are potentially more than 20 different ads they will create, but some, like Lambs, which features a disembodied Mr. Potato Head, still are being cleared by various parties. The campaign which uses the phrase ‘Not Since’ will launch with The Godfather Part II in which Lotso, the mob boss-like bear emulates Al Pacino … Of course TS3 is a presumed front runner for Best Animated Feature but a Best Pic win is a longer shot. Disney has had the only two nominees ever, 1991’s Beauty And The Beast before the separate ani category was established in 2001 and last year with Pixar’s Up, the first time there were ten nominees instead of five since 1943. Neither won and Disney is the only major never to have won the Best Picture Oscar, period … “The theory is pretty simple for us,” says Ross. “It’s thrilling that there is a separate category for animation and that allows animated movies to be recognized but for some reason an animated film has never gotten Best Picture and I always wondered was there not an appetite? We decided this year we have the biggest and best reviewed film of the year. If not this year, and not this movie, when?” … With this movie we wanted to come up with a campaign that kept our aspirations clear but at the same time used a tongue in cheek approach,” he says. “It’s all to recognize the quandary which is that no animated picture had won Best Picture, so we used only Best Picture images to reflect that. I feel very confident we have a movie everybody loves and I want to make sure with our support and our campaign that people don’t feel the consolation prize is the appropriate prize for a movie like Toy Story 3. I think people will look at the ads and feel it’s very Pixar and very Disney. At the same time it’s very clear. Toy Story 3 is a Best Picture. Vote for it. Please.”
I absolutely agree, if Toy Story 3 doesn’t at least get the Best Picture nomination (and hopefully the win) then what will it take for an animated film to win? TS3 is, hands down, one of the best films of the year. In my mind, only The Social Network is worthy enough to possibly beat it as the Best Picture. I think the difficulty for Toy Story 3 is that it came out so many months ago … people may have already forgotten what a fantastic film it is. After the jump, check out one more promo photo for Disney‘s new Best Picture campaign for Toy Story 3 …
I love both of these ads and I think it is very smart for Disney to associate their film with iconic Best Picture winning films of the past. It remains to be seen if this promo campaign will be fruitful but I hope it is. Toy Story 3 is such a fantastic film … IMHO, it is absolutely worthy to be named the Best Picture of the year. What do YOU think?
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I couldn’t agree more! It was definitely one of the best movies I saw all year.
It’s not only one of the best movies of the year, but it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent years. It was amazing. Sad, happy, bittersweet, comical, clever…it was just so good.
despite the praise they’ve received from the academy, i’d be shocked if they received the nomination. the academy has only ever nominated two animated films for this category – beauty and the beast has been criticized for being nominated only because of the lackluster films that year. then again, with the stupid amount of movies now in the best picture category, its chances are increased. don’t get me wrong – i loved toy story 3. fantastic film. but the academy i don’t trust.
OMG! I cry every single time I watch it. And with a 3 year old in my house, it’s fairly frequently. Does any one remember when Lion King and Beauty and the Beast came out? They were both nominated/won various awards (I can’t remember which ones). Then again, look at how FINALLY Lord of the Rings 3 got nominated for various stuff (and won), which the other 2 were not. Hollywood is one Cr@zEE industry… I know, I work in it too. =)
To be fair, Avatar was pretty much an animated film. I’d count that as the first animated film to win the big one. Most of it was CGI. Its all so technical with there categories.
Yes I accidently used the wrong “their” LOL. Damn you spell check!!! ;)
@Trent–A nom and win for Best Picture???? I’m surprised at your change of heart. We discussed this later year in re Precious. Oscars should and generally go to Films not Movies.
@Meredith — I contend that Toy Story 3 is a film.
Does anyone know where we can see the rest of these posters?
@DJ Vegas – Avatar didn’t win Best Picture. It was the Hurt Locker.
@Meredith – please explain your so called difference between a film and movie then?
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Anyway, I think Wall-E was robbed more than any animated film. Up deserved it, that and Wall-E really had a storyline like no other for an animated film. It was a storyline fit for a regular film than animated. Whilst I really enjoyed Toy Story 3 – its take on the more regular animated route full of action and laughter but it does keep that Toy Story spark which made every female cry. I’d love for it to get nominated & win, I just think Wall-E deserved both more than ever and Up to more than TS3.
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Anyway, I want Inception to get a nod. Breakout and show that it doesn’t matter to release your movies during Nov-Dec on limited screens then re-release in March. Hurt Locker stood out in this, but bigger movies need to step up. The Academy is a but toooo anal when it comes to nominating.
@J – Good point. Shows you what I know bout film. ;) Never mind.
Oh my gosh I just saw this movie a few days ago, and it is soooo good! But I cried like a baby at the end…which is the only reason I haven’t watched it 5 more times since then ;-)
I so hope it wins!! I went to high school with the film’s director, Lee Unkrich, and he just came back to Chagrin Falls to show the movie inOctober and talk about it. It was fascinating to hear about everything that went into making it. He poured his heart and soul into it so I really hope it wins!!!
I totally agree that Up and Wall-E were great stories that should have been recognized. I liked Toy Story 3, but the 2nd one is still my favorite. Inception should definitely get a nod. Original story, good acting, etc. I haven’t seen The Social Network yet…I have a hard time believing it’s Oscar worthy, but I have heard good things about it.