Sony’s Tom Rothman Has a Pointed Question About ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and the Oscars

Blockbusters and awards season have always had an awkward relationship. The Academy loves a crowd-pleaser in theory, but in practice the biggest hits of the year often end up with a handful of technical nominations, if they’re lucky.

That history makes the current conversation around ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ feel especially loaded. The Academy ignoring the top domestic film of a given year isn’t unprecedented, and ‘Bad Boys for Life,’ ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,’ and even ‘Spider-Man 3′ are among the examples. The superhero genre has an extra hurdle on top of that, since there is arguably a bias against comic book movies when it comes to the Oscars’ top awards.

Now the man steering the studio behind the film has decided to challenge that pattern head-on. According to a post from DiscussingFilm citing Deadline, Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman believes ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ should be nominated for Best Picture. His argument is delivered as a challenge: “Here’s what I ask people when I walk around: ‘Are you telling me that there are 10 films this year that are better than this film?'”

It’s a clever bit of framing. Rather than claiming the film is a lock, Rothman puts the burden on skeptics to name 10 movies that top it, which is the number of Best Picture slots on the table.

The box office gives him plenty of ammunition. The film raced past $1 billion in just six days, making it the second-fastest movie to reach that milestone behind ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ It also posted a record $168 million opening day, topping the $157 million Friday that ‘Endgame’ earned, and it became the biggest opening ever for Sony Pictures. Later coverage pegged its total at around $2.4 billion.

Audiences, in other words, have already voted. The movie became the fourth release of the year to cross $1 billion, joining ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,’ ‘Michael,’ and ‘Toy Story 5.’ Whether that kind of popularity translates to Academy love is the real question.

Rothman isn’t new to the awards game, which lends his pitch some credibility. He founded Fox Searchlight, which went on to win 3 Best Picture Oscars. Under his leadership, Sony received 20 Oscar nominations in 2020, including 2 Best Picture nods for ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and ‘Little Women.’

He has also made this kind of case before. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rothman and Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige argued that ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ deserved a shot at a Best Picture nomination, something only ‘Black Panther’ had previously achieved. That campaign didn’t land the top prize, so the track record for web-slinging awards runs is mixed at best.

There is a story behind the film that could appeal to voters, too. Tom Holland revealed he had an uncomfortable conversation with Rothman about delaying production so he could film Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey,’ and the delay opened the door for Destin Daniel Cretton to direct. Rothman has said the key to the film’s success is that it puts the humanity of its hero at the center.

Early awards chatter suggests the technical categories may be more realistic. Gold Derby noted that Holland’s latest outing has history on its side in certain key categories. Best Picture is a far steeper climb, and it remains to be seen whether Rothman’s rhetorical question will persuade the people who actually cast ballots.

Still, a studio chief publicly daring Hollywood to defend its rankings is the kind of move that tends to start conversations. Whether or not ‘Brand New Day’ earns that nomination, Rothman has made sure the question is being asked.