Oscar Bait Posters: 'Doubt' and 'Bees'

It's getting close to that time of year folks

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, August 5th 2008 at 10:14 PM

I have been thinking about how I am going to cover the Oscar season this year and I am hoping to create individual pages for all the titles I think have a shot and update them as we get closer and closer to February 22, 2009, but for now I remain in limbo. However, that isn't stopping the marketing train as posters, pics and info for Oscar contenders are starting to roll in and today we have posters for Doubt starring Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman and The Secret Life of Bees starring Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okonedo, Alicia Keys and Paul Bettany.

Bees is set in South Carolina in 1964, the film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Fanning) a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Hilarie Burton). To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Bettany), Lily flees with Rosaleen (Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Okonedo and Keys), Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna.

Doubt is set at a Catholic school in the Bronx, it centers on a nun who grows suspicious when a priest begins taking too much interest in the life of a young black student. Is she being overly protective or not protective enough? And can she work within the system to discover the truth?

Bees hits limited theaters in October while Doubt will be released in December. Both are generating some early Oscar buzz, but there is no telling where it will go from here. Streep is looking at a potential Best Actress nom while Davis may earn a Supporting Actress nom for Doubt. Bees is a little more iffy, perhaps a writing nom is in its future.

Below are the posters and you can click on the thumbnails at the bottom of the article for full-sized views.

Photo: Miramax

Photo: Fox Searchlight