gadd

I really hope they follow through on the tone that was established in this teaser for subsequent marketing material. It has earned a lot of goodwill, even from skeptics, so resorting to a light-hearted theatrical trailer with lots of jokes would feel like a backwards step to me. However, I also understand that there may be a risk of alienating younger viewers if the marketing seems TOO serious.

This is such a minor, trivial thing, but I love that they've used II instead of '2' in the title. Perhaps it's because it makes me think of The Godfather Part II and even The Last of Us Part II, but I feel like when a property uses roman numerals it suggests it should be taken seriously. Although, there was The Hangover Part II.

This was one of my top 5 most anticipated films of the year even before this trailer came out because, apart from the fact that I love the first, I've always wanted to see how Disney would handle a sequel to one of their animated musicals. It's uncharted territory for them. After seeing this teaser, I wonder if the reception to Olaf's Frozen Adventure was one of the best things that could've happened to this movie's marketing campaign. In contrast to the teaser for the original in which he was front and center, he is hardly visible in this trailer and only shares the screen with other key characters. The marketing strategy in general appears to be addressing one of the main questions raised by people when this was announced: Why? Despite the relatively long gap between the first and second movies, I've sensed the threat of this property being overexposed, and worried that kids who loved the original back in 2013 might have grown tired of it by now. Therefore, Disney seems to be directly appealing to the skeptics, showcasing the stunning visuals, not relying upon the beloved songs from the first film like Let It Go (the use of Vuelie in this teaser was awesome), and hinting towards an intriguing, mysterious plot. Suffice to say I love what I've seen so far.

Pretty much right there with you. It doesn't reach the heights of the first two, but this is still a fitting conclusion. I remember being really skeptical of the first movie because of how weak the trailers were, yet 9 years on I think this has to go down as one of the strongest film trilogies I've seen. I got a little teary-eyed during the epilogue.

We can count out the Lego Movie for sure, the Lego prejudice among AMPAS voters is strong.

Just realised that next year's Best Animated Feature category could potentially be comprised entirely of sequels (The Lego Movie 2, HTTYD3, Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, The Secret Life of Pets 2). It probably won't happen but the possibility is certainly there.

I wouldn't say no one expected a nomination for him. He received Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA nominations in Supporting. The issue for him with AMPAS was that he was the only reason to watch Beautiful Boy by all accounts, whereas Vice was prioritised much more by Academy members because it was considered to be competing in more categories, hence Rockwell's inclusion.

It got 7 nominations, that's a pretty decent tally which indicates how much respect it had in various branches. Its BP nomination doesn't come off as a token gesture like Selma which only got Picture and Song, or The Post last year which only had an Actress nomination to go along with the one it received in Picture. I hope Coogler knocks out of the park yet again with the sequel to prove that the acclaim and accolades Black Panther has received is no fluke. They might even nab a Visual Effects nomination if the effects team are given a bigger budget to work with. Apart from Marina De Tavira's stunning appearance in Supporting Actress, the biggest shock of the day for me was the entire Documentary Feature line-up. Unlike other years, I went out of my way to catch some of the so-called ''contenders'' in that category (Shirkers, Three Identical Strangers, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, etc.), and all of them bar Minding the Gap ended up missing.

Given how huge musicals have been in the UK in 2018, I understand that many cinemas do not want to underestimate a potentially huge audience for a Christmas musical with brand appeal. Also, the DCEU hasn't exactly resonated deeply with audiences. If I'm not mistaken, Paddington 2 came extremely close to defeating Justice League on the latter's opening weekend last year (in fact, here in Ireland it actually DID beat it), and Wonder Woman didn't do the massive numbers it achieved in other territories. I can see why some are annoyed by the disparity in the number of screens but I also get that cinemas don't want to sacrifice the screens of a film that could possibly sell out its capacity for something that might only attract 10-20 customers.

In regards to the underwhelming performance of various films, potentially award contenders, aimed at an older demographic, I think film studios are going to have to realise that if they stick to traditional release strategies for these kinds of movies, they're going to get eaten up by the big tent-pole releases. The fall movie season is starting to become the new summer in that there's almost a tentpole release every other week, leaving little room for films like First Man or Widows to fulfill heir box-office potential. Studios might have to think about giving them a slot in August and September when the market isn't filled to the brim with blockbusters or event films. It remains to be seen if the 2018 fall season is an outlier for the abundance of tent-pole films, but you can guarantee that after the successes of Venom and Halloween in particular, studios are going to heavily rely on these release slots for films of a similar profile in the future. I might be over-reacting but it disappoints me to see stuff like Widows, Bad Times at the El Royale and First Man being left by the wayside when they may have done considerably better in August/September when the market is quite dry.

Instead of making it a competitive category, it could just be an honorary award for a film that achieved a certain level of box-office success. At least that wouldn't negate the success of the actual Best Picture nominees while genuinely recognising a film that was popular with the masses.

Yes, they're talking about the 2019 ceremony.

It was stupid to announce the category without providing any clarity on the rules for eligibility, especially when the title is so ambiguous. Ironically this year would've been a golden opportunity to try it out if they'd had any idea what they were doing with it.

Not to mention it would've gotten lost in a crowded market whereas September is looking pretty barren apart from The Nun and The Predator.