Watch out Zootopia, Sausage Party wants to fuck up your Oscar hopes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony is granting the Seth Rogen-Evan Goldberg movie about cursing hot dogs a “full-out awards campaign.” Sony Pictures chair Tom Rothman rationalized the decision to promote Sausage Party in this manner to THR saying, “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.”
Sausage Party could potentially crack categories besides Best Animated Feature. The studio seems especially interested in getting its flashy opening number into the Best Original Song race, sending out CDs of the track. Called “The Great Beyond,” the tune is a riff on Disney’s grand introductions like “Belle” or “The Circle Of Life,” and its music was written by a veteran of that company: Alan Menken, who has collected eight Oscars out 19 nominations. Seems like pretty good odds, though it will likely be up against competition from musicals like Moana and La La Land.
But controversy has always had the potential to fell Oscar aspirations, and Sausage Party comes pre-packaged with one that has nothing to do with the food orgy that takes place on screen. When it came out, some alleged that animators who worked on the film were treated badly by the production, which was aiming to keep costs low. Co-director Greg Tiernan denied the charges. We’re betting Sony is praying voters just focus on the weed jokes and the religious allegory.