Oscars 2018: Academy members receive surprise first DVD screener of awards season

The studio is putting their hopes on Hugh Jackman's final Wolverine film

The Oscars 2018 battle is officially underway following the news that the first For Your Consideration screener has been sent out to Academy voters.

Instead of being a typical award bait drama, however, it seems the first film to kick start its campaign is Logan.

According to Deadline, the screener arrived in voters' mailboxes today having originally been released by 20th Century Fox in March. Directed by James Mangold, the film - designed to be the final outing for both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart - was a 15-certificate slant on the X-Men character worlds away from the original franchise.

The studio is not stopping there - according to reports, Fox is also lobbying for War for the Planet of the Apes, the third in the rebooted franchise, to gain some Oscar recognition following rave reviews (including this one from us). In terms of future releases, Fox also has another Jackman film - Oscar-friendly The Greatest Showman in which he plays P.T. Barnum - being released later this year.

Elsewhere, Fox will also be releasing Steven Spielberg film The Post (formerly known as The Papers) starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

If Logan was to score a Best Picture nomination, it would only mark the third time a March release managed to earn the feat this Millennium following Erin Brockovich in 2000 and The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014.