Will Smith returns to the Oscar race with Emancipation after Chris Rock slap

Will Smith
(Image credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Can Will Smith get another Oscar nomination only a year after the slap? We're about to find out.

Apple TV+ has announced that Emancipation, a new movie starring Smith as a runaway slave, will premiere this December, meaning it will be eligible for the 2023 Academy Awards. The first trailer for the film was also released.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Academy has banned Smith from attending the Oscars for the next 10 years. But he was not banned for being nominated or even winning, opening up the possibility he could earn a Best Actor nod for Emancipation but be unable to attend the ceremony.

Apple held the first screening of Emancipation with the NAACP over the weekend, after which NAACP President Derrick Johnson tweeted that he "can't begin to tell how powerful this is for OUR community and OUR history," calling the movie a "story of adversity, of resilience, of love, and of triumph."

Apple's decision to release Emancipation in December may have been driven by the fact that it isn't believed to have any other Best Picture contenders in the mix this season. But it's an open question whether Academy voters will be willing to embrace the film, and especially Smith's performance in it, so soon after the slap controversy. Smith apologized for his behavior at the Oscars in July, saying there's "no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment."

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.