Sony Believes Sausage Party Should Win A Few Oscars, Isn't Kidding

The first time Sausage Party surprised audiences was this past summer, when it managed to become one of the biggest hits in the animated realm, and with an R-rating to boot. One would have thought the surprises would have ended after the film's $135 million worldwide haul slowed to a crawl, but that would not be the case. As it turns out, Sony has another goal in mind for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's animated insanity: they're looking to win the film an Oscar! The reasons behind such a huge push comes from Sony's chairman, Tom Rothman, who explained:

Academy members are way smarter and more forward-thinking than people realize. They want to recognize bold, original, risky breakthroughs, and that's what Sausage Party is, however subversive. Plus, it's just plain cool.

The Hollywood Reporter caught wind of Sony's intent to push Sausage Party for a Best Animated Film and/or Best Original Song trophy. The efforts being aligned to make such a case for the adults-only cartoon becoming the first R-rated film to be nominated are pretty far reaching. In addition to the standard screeners issued for the film, complete with copies of the film's Best Original Song hopeful "The Great Beyond," a big cocktail party is being planned with the directors and Seth Rogen in attendance on November 1st.

So if Tom Rothman's rationale is correct, the big reason Sony thinks the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should make Sausage Party into an award contending success is because it's cool and edgy. Now, to be fair, these are the sort of achievements that the Academy likes to honor films for, as creativity stems from both. Throw this in with the fact that the film would be making history as the first R-rated film to gain a nomination in the animated film category, and you've got what seems to be a sure fire nomination.

Of course, the big question is, even if Sausage Party could wrangle the votes for a nomination, could the film ride its way to glory? To be completely honest, it doesn't look good. While Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's over-the-top parody of animated musicals, religion, and existence in general does make for an interesting competitor, the field is already crowded with the likes of Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets, and even Storks serving as possible nominees. And let's face it, if anyone's walking away with that trophy with a clean victory this year, it would have to be Dory.

Despite the odds, there's still a chance that Sausage Party could buck the odds and take the nomination and the win. At the very least, the film should be able to follow the historical footsteps that South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut have laid before it and grab a Best Original Song nomination. But as for any potential Best Animated Film nod, we'll have to keep crunching the odds between now and January 24, 2017 - the morning the actual nominations will be announced. We wish Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and the rest of the folks at Sony the best of luck in their awards chase.