Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the highest-grossing film in U.S. history, but can it make even more history? Tom Rothman, the chairman of Sony Pictures, thinks so. In a new interview, Rothman revealed that Sony will soon begin campaigning to hopefully earn Brand New Day a Best Picture nomination at the upcoming Oscars.
“The Academy is meant to recognize greatness. So, to be honest, I think it’s greatness. I think it’s received wisdom. If there aren’t people thinking about it, we’re gonna do what we can just to make people think about it,” Rothman told Deadline. “I think it’s also incumbent upon studios who make these kinds of quality commercial films to get people to think about it, and here’s what I ask people when I walk around: ‘Are you telling me that there are 10 films this year that are better than this film?’”
To answer that question in the minds of Academy voters, Sony will soon start hosting all sorts of “For Your Consideration” events across the country, hoping voters can watch the film, appreciate the film, and potentially nominate it. Part of that plan reportedly includes the as-yet-unconfirmed, but all but certain, Spider-Man: (Brand New) Brand New Day re-release in the upcoming weeks.
“I think wise heads know that quality commercial filmmaking is extremely difficult, and to make a movie like this, never mind the fact that it’s the highest-grossing movie in the history of America, forget that. It’s in the 90s on Rotten Tomatoes for critics, it’s in the 90s on audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s the thing: the movie’s great. I’m a biased witness, but that’s not me, that’s objective,” Rothman said. “You don’t have the results that you have, where we had people seeing the movie two and three times. You don’t do close to a billion dollars in America. But are there 10 films that are better than this film, just in pure quality? I think when you see movies like F1 and Barbie and Wicked and Bohemian Rhapsody, whatever, getting nominated, well that is the very reason that the Academy changed to 10.”
Rothman is referring to the fact that, almost 20 years ago, the Academy upped the number of Best Picture nominees to 10 from five in the hopes of getting more popular films nominated, and therefore larger audiences watching on TV. It hasn’t quite worked that way, however, with most of the slots still going to more independent films. But then there are times when films like Black Panther or Joker do break through, and that’s Rothman’s hope with Brand New Day.
“I think Academy members would be interested in this because it’s very significant from a storytelling movie,” Rothman said. “This is really the first of these kinds of movies that I can think of that does not climax in a giant battle. In this movie, there is no giant action sequence at the end. The climax of this movie are two young people sitting on the edge of a bed, talking to each other, and sharing their deepest pain. This movie is melancholy in that way and beautiful. I think people might take Spider-Man for granted, and not only that, I think they make assumptions about it. When you see the movie, those assumptions are undone. It’s a very moving, quite personal film. Destin [Daniel Cretton] is a really personal filmmaker. This is the guy who made Short Term 12. That’s what I say when I encourage people to see it, you know, people of my generation. I say you may take it for granted, you may think it’s just another, but it isn’t. It’s really the first, when I think about it. I think it’s the first superhero movie that’s really a super person movie.”
Read more from Rothman over at Deadline. But, for now, do you think Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a shot at an Oscar nomination?
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