Fox Searchlight Already Looking Ahead to Next Year's Oscars with 'The Birth of a Nation'
Winners of the last two Best Pictures for '12 Years a Slave' and 'Birdman', Fox Searchlight have their sights firmly set on next years Oscars Best Picture race.
Their current film 'Brooklyn' is up for Best Picture this year but that hasn't stopped Fox Searchlight from looking ahead to next years awards season.
They recently purchased the hottest property from this Sundance Film Festival in 'The Birth of a Nation' which sold for a record $17million. Fox Searchlight co-president Steve Gilula said during the Oscars Nominees Luncheon last week, “We want to make it a global success like 12 Years A Slave”.
The plan is to have the highly anticipated movie drop in October, like 12 Years did — which is a prime month for potential Oscar contenders. But Gilula also warned they won’t rush it out, either. Fox Searchlight are also exploring an August release. The summer month can also be a healthy Oscar release, as they proved with their movies 'The Help', Lee Daniel’s 'The Butler' and 'Straight Outta Compton' all becoming breakout hits from August releases.
Although we are 6-8 months away from a release date for 'The Birth of a Nation,' it is to this day, the favourite heading into the 89th Academy Awards — and that alone proves how powerful this movie has the potential to be.
