Summer Preview 2016: Awards Potential

Continuing to look at the 2016 summer movie season, it’s time to talk awards.  Most Oscar movies come out in the fall, but there have been a few instances where nominees and winners have come out in the summer and has great success on the awards circuit, like Boyhood (2014) and Midnight in Paris (2011).  So let’s take a look at movies coming out this summer that have awards potential.

5 – War Dogs (Todd Phillips, August 19)

War Dogs looks insane.  It tells the true story of two men who win a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm American allies in Afghanistan.  The trailer has a kinetic energy that hooked me and stars two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill and the great Miles Teller.  Todd Phillips is responsible for some great comedies like Old School (2003) and the first Hangover film (2009), but War Dogs looks like his most serious film yet and feels similar to what Adam McKay did last year with The Big Short (2016).  I can see this movie being a big player at the Golden Globes in the Musical/Comedy section and even think Hill and Teller could make some noise for their performances, especially Hill, who looks great.  This could be one of the wildest and best comedies of the year.

4 – The BFG (Steve Spielberg, July 1)

I mean, it’s Spielberg.  He is arguably the best director working today and has been on a tear lately.  His last two films, 2012’s Lincoln and last year’s Bridge of Spies, are both award winning masterpieces and new career highs for the living legend.  The BFG looks more like lighter Spielberg, but still looks magical.  Based on the novel from Roald Dahl, The BFG is about a young girl who meets a the Big Friendly Giant who, despite his intimidating appearance, turns out to be extremely nice and is an outcast amongst other giants because he doesn’t eat children.  It looks visually stunning with a lot of heart and could play a lot like Hugo did in 2011.

3 – Free State Jones (Gary Ross, June 24)

Gary Ross’ fourth feature film brings in Oscar favorite Matthew McConaughey as a poor Mississippi farmer who leads a group of rebels against the Confederate army.  McConaughey looks excellent and the film is very striking in the way it looks and powerful in its story.  The one thing I will say is that the movie reminds a lot of this year’s Sundance U.S. Dramatic Prize winner The Birth of a Nation which would hurt Free State‘s chances because The Birth of a Nation has a ton of buzz, a friendlier release date and it’s just a flat out great movie.  Still, McConaughey and the script could sneak in.

2 – Money Monster (Jodie Foster, May 13)

Two of the biggest stars in the world in a socially relevant financial movie?  Hello Oscar bait.  Money Monster brings George Clooney and Julia Roberts together again for a pulse-pounding thriller that takes shots at Wall Street and the financial collapse.  Clooney looks like his usual charming yet dramatic self, but Roberts looks like she’ll get to showcase her talent as it could be a powerfully subdued performance.  And Jack O’Connell, who had quite a 2014 with 300: Rise of an Empire, Unbroken, and ’71, looks excellent as a man who takes over a television studio to get answers about the money he lost.  Jodie Foster has proved herself as a director and I’m excited for this movie to premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and hope it is as good as promised.

1 – The Founder (John Lee Hancock, August 5)

This is actually a movie I think will make some big noise come the end of the year awards run.  The Founder tells the story of McDonalds founder Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton).  Keaton has starred in the last two Best Picture winners, Birdman (2014) and Spotlight (2015), and was robbed of a Best Actor win for Birdman.  He looks spectacular in this one.  Third time’s a charm?  Nick Offerman also stars in this movie as one of the McDonald brothers who won’t sell the franchise to Kroc and he looks great and I could definitely see him snagging a Best Supporting Actor nomination.  The movie has the awards-powerhouse Weinstein Company behind it and a director who made surprise Best Picture nominee The Blind Side (2009).  I have high hopes for this movie and plan to hear its name a lot this winter.

What movies do you think have the most awards potential?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.

And make sure you follow the Summer 2016 Preview all week to see what movies you should check out this summer.