The other night I was having dinner with a couple of industry veterans, both Oscar voters, who told me they had been talking to a top producer-financier who had seen two big studio movies coming out later in the year and both were fantastic. The producer very enthusiastically praised Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II , said Paul Mescal was terrific and Denzel Washington extraordinary in it. He also saw the new Robert Zemeckis film Here, which stars and de-ages Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, also reuniting them from the 1994 Zemeckis film Forrest Gump.
Both that one and Scott’s 2000 Gladiator took Best Picture and now it appears both veteran directors will be back in the race — big time. Scott still has yet to win an Oscar, having been overlooked four times in the director race. Related Stories Commentary Michael Cieply: Thought For A Hot July – Why Not Shake Up The Oscars With a “Midsummer Rule”? News ‘Inside Out 2’ Out Of This World!: Sequel Crosses $1B Global Box Office; Fastest Animated Movie Ever To Milestone Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in ‘Here’ Sony Pictures Paramount releases Gladiator II in November, the same month Sony is expected to launch Here .
The two Academy voters were excited to finally have something Oscar worthy coming down the pike because so far this year the going has been very slow to say the least. A look at the lineup of official Academy screenings every weekend at its Samuel Goldwyn Theatre has been disheartening, with a lot of smaller movie.