Universal's WICKED Films - News & Discussion Thread- Page 69

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/15/24 at 6:16pm

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "While I myself am looking forward to the film, I still don't see this being a major awards player.Nonetheless, Universal will be campaigning Cynthia Erivo as lead and Ariana Grande in supporting."

This doesn't shock me

I DID wonder if there'd be some funny business of swapping categories for the two movies: Grande Lead/Erivo Supporting for the first movie, Erivo Lead/Grande Supporting for the second movie, being that Act 2 of Wicked is really Elphaba's journey. But like you said, nothing about this indicates that it could be a major awards player.

[Voter]

Posted: 9/15/24 at 6:37pm

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "While I myself am looking forward to the film, I still don't see this being a major awards player.Nonetheless, Universal will be campaigning Cynthia Erivo as lead and Ariana Grande in supporting.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/wicked-awards-categories-cynthia-erivo-lead-ariana-grande-supporting-1236002089/"

 

Universal has a phenomenal awards campaign. Universal productions got Christopher Nolan his first Oscars after being in the industry for about 30 years. Warner Bros could not even get Nolan an Oscar for his other movies in the past. Universal Pictures has 10 BP wins, 4 in this century so far. 

Wicked will probably have a strong awards chance. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/15/24 at 7:00pm

Universal is a great studio and they had Oscar success with OPPENHEIMER and GREEN BOOK, but trying to compare one of those to WICKED is a little silly before seeing the film. Oppenheimer was a genuine phenomenon, Christopher Nolan delivered an undeniable film, and he had something of an "overdue" narrative.

Universal has had plenty of films that have underperformed at the Oscars (from CATS to Jordan Peele's US and NOPE to NEWS OF THE WORLD to the MAMMA MIAs). And if it makes bucketloads of money, I doubt anyone involved will be mad if they wake up to no above-the-line Oscar nominations.

They'll also have the animated WILD ROBOT this year, which got a rapturous response at the Toronto Film Festival and some have speculated it could be a contender in Best Picture and other categories, not merely Best Animated.

Updated On: 9/15/24 at 07:00 PM

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 9/15/24 at 8:06pm

Wicked's best awards chances are definitely in the technical and design categories. If Cynthia and Ariana get in anywhere, their best chances will be at the Globes where there's a dedicated leading actress category for comedies/musicals and where they tend to be partial to major celebrities. I personally think any shot they had at acting nominations went out the window the second the decision was made to split into two films.

Updated On: 9/15/24 at 08:06 PM

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 1:23pm

I bet the films will win the Best Production and Costume Design awards. I can't think only splitting the films into two parts automatically means they lose out on the Lead and Supporting Actress awards. It is true the emotional heft is in the second film, but then I think at least that film could get them the noms.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 1:33pm

I don't think any of the actors will be nominated for their performances in these movies lol

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 1:42pm

MagicalMusical said: "I bet the films will win the Best Production and Costume Design awards. I can't think only splitting the films into two parts automatically means they lose out on the Lead and Supporting Actress awards. It is true the emotional heft is in the second film, but then I think at least that film could get them the noms."

I think a more likely scenario is that it gets those nominations, but doesn't win either of them. I need to see it nominated for Best Picture first. As we've seen every year since the expansion era began in 2009, only two non-Best Picture nominees won Best Production Design (2010's Alice in Wonderland and 2013's The Great Gatsby). Although six more have managed to win Best Costume Design.

With that being said, I still don't see Wicked getting nominated for Best Picture. Just because it’s a musical coming out doesn’t automatically mean we should look for it in the Oscar race. The property skews pretty young and it may not appeal to the older demographic of the Academy. Plus, musicals haven't been hitting as well at the Oscars as they used to back in the 1960s. A lot of us thought The Color Purple was going to be huge last year, especially after it started getting such enthusiastic audience responses at early screenings. Yet in the end, it only managed to reap Best Supporting Actress for Danielle Brooks and nothing else.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 1:43pm

TotallyEffed said: "I don't think any of the actors will be nominated for their performances in these movies lol"

I'm with you. And unless it REALLY surpasses the expectations of the trailers, I doubt it will be a major awards player in any category. The specific guilds who vote on things like production design and VFX and cinematography will be even more critical than the rest of us.

The Golden Globes are a different matter (where I assume both ladies will run as Leads, being that the supporting category –– weirdly –– isn't split between Comedy and Drama).

Let's also keep in mind: If it underperforms at the box office, that will also hurt its chances. Blockbusters like BLACK PANTHER and BARBIE and TOP GUN MAVERICK don't go all the way to the Oscars without a box office haul to help them.

Updated On: 9/16/24 at 01:43 PM

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 2:36am

It's true, usually a film only wins Best Costume or Production Design if it was also nominated for Best Picture. So I don't think the guilds are doing that, I think people who don't have a clue/give a damn about such categories just vote for the one in the category that also got a Best Picture nom. But I think the design elements of these films is so outstanding and note worthy, they have a chance. Galinda and Elphaba's Ozdust Ballroom looks aside...

I also still hold out hope for the acting noms, but that is just me hoping.

Updated On: 9/18/24 at 02:36 AM

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 9:55am

How the Set Design of the New Movie Wicked Ventures Off the Beaten Yellow-Brick Road

[Musical Master]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 11:58am

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "How the Set Design of the New MovieWickedVentures Off the Beaten Yellow-Brick Road"

If the movie doesn't get nominations for Best Costume and Production Designs, I'm going to riot. There was another interview somewhere that Jon M. Chu said that the use of large-scale sets was inspired by the Spielberg movie Hook. Though, one can say there's some Hello, Dolly! influences too when it comes to how big and lavish it feels.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 1:30pm

These photos look more impressive than what's actually in the trailers, with much of the cg touchups/lighting/digital cinematography stripped away. Nathan Crowley is one of the best production designers working today, but there's still something so plastic about some of these sets. Again, only going by pics and trailers –– maybe it's amazing in the finished film.

The production design category has the potential to be stacked at the Oscars this year. THE BRUTALIST is a 3.5 hour movie about architecture that allegedly worked miracles on a tight budget (designed by Judy Becker, a longtime industry vet who's never won). There'll also be the WWII drama BLITZ, and big-budget spectacles like GLADIATOR 2, DUNE 2, BEETLEJUICE 2, JOKER 2, MAD MAX FURIOSA, an ALIEN sequel, PLANET OF THE APES, TWISTERS, and GODZILLA V KONG.

Updated On: 9/17/24 at 01:30 PM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 1:40pm

I can't wait to see THE BRUTALIST...still in the impossibly long queue for NYFF at this very moment!

[degrassifan]

Posted: 9/18/24 at 6:07am

Respectfully Jeffrey Karasarides, I remember you stating several times on here and on Gold Derby that you didn’t think West Side Story would be an awards player in the Oscar race, and that ended up getting 7 noms, including Best Picture. We’ll just have to see. Wicked has the ingredients of being an Oscar contender. We just need to see if those ingredients came together well. I have it on good authority that Universal is going to do a big awards push. The only thing hurting its chances is the fact it’s been split into two movies. 

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 9/18/24 at 7:36am

degrassifan said: "Respectfully Jeffrey Karasarides, I remember you stating several times on here and on Gold Derby that you didn’t think West Side Story would be an awards player in the Oscar race, and that ended up getting 7 noms, including Best Picture."

The difference there is that on paper, it looked like West Side Story would have a huge uphill battle to climb given that a number of people were probably going to view it as "a remake of a much lauded Best Picture winner that swept the Oscars." Although it had Steven Spielberg at the helm, who's been a presence at the Academy for decades. While the film itself did get those nominations, it ultimately wasn't taken seriously for a Best Picture win for three reasons:

1. It missed out on noms for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. While the former shouldn't have been that surprising given the writers branch's long love/hate relationship with musicals, Tony Kushner still got all this acclaim for his reworking of the story. Although I did see somewhere that the only times in recent years where musicals did receive screenplay bids was when they were big threats to win Best Picture (as was the case with Chicago and La La Land). Meanwhile, other musicals nominated for Best Picture within this century such as Moulin Rouge! and Les Misérables weren't recognized for their scripts. Plus, the editing snub was also telling given that Spielberg's longtime editor, Michael Kahn, is a legend who's managed to win three times out of eight nominations.

2. Similar to how 2018's A Star is Born and 2019's Little Women were treated, the Academy by and large appeared to have respected it, but still felt "Why are we doing this again?."

3. After scoring big at the Oscars with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, the Academy continues to show respect for Spielberg, but haven't really had much of a desire to award him again. Similar to what's been happening to Martin Scorsese after he finally won for The Departed, they've pretty much taken him for granted at this point.

"We’ll just have to see. Wicked has the ingredients of being an Oscar contender. We just need to see if those ingredients came together well. I have it on good authority that Universal is going to do a big awards push. The only thing hurting its chances is the fact it’s been split into two movies."

What ingredients? I can't think of a single Best Picture nominee in recent years that proves Wicked could get nominated. Sure, the Academy has become more open to recognizing populist films lately, but some of them were considered to big to ignore when it came to their box office successes (as was the case with Black Panther, Top Gun: Maverick, and Barbie). The latter of which also had Greta Gerwig at the helm, who's been on quite a streak with her directorial outings reaping Best Picture noms. Jon M. Chu has never even made a movie that was Oscar nominated in a single category before. Doesn't mean he never will, it's just something worth taking into account.

I'll be shocked if Wicked makes a billion at the box office. At best, I see this doing similar to Wonka last year. A big family friendly musical inspired by a beloved family friendly property released during the holiday season, makes a lot of money, but is never considered a big deal in the awards conversation. I think Wicked's awards potential is only bids in the below-the-line categories and nothing else.

Updated On: 9/18/24 at 07:36 AM