Warner Bros. will push Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman hard leading up to next year’s Academy Awards, and it sounds like the studio has its sights set on the Best Picture and Best Director nominations, according to Variety.
With $781 million raked in at the global box office, the film is officially the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman. Now, according to a report from Variety, Warner Bros. plans to use this groundbreaking success to push Wonder Woman as the first comic book film to be nominated for Best Picture.
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In 2009, Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed The Dark Knight surprisingly failed to pick up a nomination in this category, but with the field expanded from five to 10 contenders, studio executives are reportedly optimistic that they can land a nomination this time around with what they view as a pioneer superhero movie.
Warner Bros. is also confident that Jenkins’ pro-feminism messages detailing the journey of Diana from Themyscira into the world of man as Wonder Woman will garner her a Best Director nod, in a category where Kathryn Bigelow is the only female to have taken home the accolade. Ironically, Bigelow, who won for 2010’s The Hurt Locker, was one of the directors rumored to be linked to Wonder Woman when the movie was first announced.
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The studio declined to comment, but executives are said to be planning an extensive and expensive Oscar campaign that will involve star Gal Gadot. Wonder Woman will next be seen in November’s Justice League and hopes are that Gadot’s performance, and the film as a whole, is well received so as to continue building momentum for the Academy Awards season. This comes at a very crucial moment for the franchise as a release date has already been announced for the sequel, with Geoff Johns working on the script.
In theaters now, Wonder Woman stars Gal Gadot as Diana, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Robin Wright as General Antiope, Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff, David Thewlis as Ares, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Elena Anaya as Doctor Poison and Lucy Davis as Etta Candy.