Disney’s Rich Ross told Deadline this week , “We’re Going For The Best Picture Win” For Toy Story 3. 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 was of course referring to their worldwide billion dollar grosser which also happens to sit atop the Rotten Tomatoes chart as the best reviewed film of 2010.
In order to secure a victory, the studio has recently launched an incredible Oscar campaign using the Toy Story characters in movie posters aping some of the great best picture nominees of the past including The Godfather Part II, West Side Story, On The Waterfront, Shakespeare In Love, The Silence Of The Lambs, Titanic, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King and Forrest Gump.
Disney has had the only two nominees ever, 1991’s Beauty And The Beast before the separate animation category was established 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 studio to never have won the Best Picture Oscar.
“The theory is pretty simple for us,” Ross told Deadline. “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?”
So far only two ads have been released since not all parties have approved the deals. The posters which all feature the phrase “not since,” will run in various trade publications. You can see the first two images below and visit Deadline for more details.
Just a thought before I finish this post. Wouldn’t it work in the studios favor if they emulated images from movies that should have won Best Picture but never did?
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
- Shakespeare In Love
