Fox Pushing Deadpool 2 For Best Picture Oscar

Though the Academy isn’t usually one for franchise blockbusters, Disney is clearly hoping for a shift in attitude as they push Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War for a variety of Oscars, and probably with good reason. But even in this changing climate, the fact that 20th Century Fox is promoting Deadpool 2 for Best Picture seems like a troll move worthy of the Merc with a Mouth himself.

The main award is one of several that the studio is gunning for, and while Wade Wilson’s latest outing was a hit with audiences and critics alike, it’s safe to say that this gratuitously violent X-Men spinoff flick is outside of the Academy’s wheelhouse. All the same, though the movie stands little chance at getting Best Picture, it may well take a few nominations in some of the less prestigious categories, with the full list of “For Consideration” submissions reading as follows:

• Best Picture (Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner)

• Best Director (David Letich)

• Best Original Screenplay (Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds)

• Best Actor (Ryan Reynolds)

• Best Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison, T.J. Miller, Karan Soni, Jack Kesy)

• Best Supporting Actress (Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand)

• Best Production Design (David Scheunemann, Sandy Walker)

• Best Cinematography (Jonathan Sela)

• Best Costume Design (Kurt Swanson, Bart Mueller)

• Best Film Editing (Elisabet Ronaldsdottir, Dirk Westervelt, Craig Alpert)

• Best Makeup And Hairstyling (Bill Corso, Monic Huppert)

• Best Original Score (Tyler Bates)

• Best Sound Editing (Mark Stoeckinger)

• Best Sound Mixing (Mark Noda, Paul Massey, Martyn Zub)

• Best Visual Effects (Dan Glass, Mike Vezina, Michael Brazelton, Stephane Naze)

The academy is notorious for relegating its franchise flicks to the technical awards, but while we wait to see which comic book movies buck the trend this year, Deadpool 2 is getting a somewhat controversial PG-13 rerelease. The first trailer for Once Upon a Deadpool came out just this week, and while Wade Wilson may have eased up on the potty mouth, the reworked movie looks to contain a couple of fresh barbs against its own studio, with co-star Fred Savage delivering a scalding putdown of Fox’s Marvel output.

The PG-13 Deadpool 2 hits theaters on December 12th, and between this family friendly outing and those Academy Award aspirations, it’s almost as if the Merc with a Mouth is trying to become respectable. Let’s hope it doesn’t last.