Warner Bros. Planning Oscar Campaign for ‘Wonder Woman’, Patty Jenkins

Unofficial sources have suggested that Warner Bros. could be eyeing up a large budget Oscar campaign for their groundbreaking superhero franchise movie Wonder Woman.

The DC Comics adaptation, produced and distributed by Warner Bros., has already broken ground for being the highest-grossing woman directed film of all time, making over $700million at the worldwide box office, but should Warner Bros’ campaign be successful, Wonder Woman will become the first superhero film to ever be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, breaking yet more boundaries for the woman-driven flick.

The distributor will also attack the campaign trail on behalf of director Patty Jenkins in an attempt to have her nominated for Best Director at 2018’s ceremony.

If Variety’s reports are true, Warner Bros. are be set to invest millions of dollars in distributing special DVD copies of the film to voters and paying for stars to appear on both coasts as a part of the campaign trail, as well as putting on special screenings of the film to ‘honoured guests’. With such a high level of investment needed to successfully campaign for a spot in one of the main categories, this report suggests that Warner Bros. are confident of their chances.

A nomination for Patty Jenkins would be the first female directorial nomination since Kathryn Bigelow won the award for The Hurt Locker in 2010 and would make history for the superhero genre that is yet to break into the 10-strong nominees pool for Best Picture despite the Oscars openly accepting other genre pieces such as The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road in recent years.

Though not an out-and-out critical success, there does seem to be a tidal wave of support behind Wonder Woman at the moment, the box office figures proving such. Should its pace hold, Jenkins and Warner Bros/DC could very well make history in the coming year.

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