7 Features Advance for Best Visual Effects
via press release:
7 FEATURES CONTINUE IN VFX OSCAR® RACE
Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 82nd Academy Awards®.
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“Star Trek”
“Terminator Salvation”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
“2012”On Thursday, January 21, all members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.
Jabba says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:11am
District 9, Avatar, Star Trek…
John says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:12am
Avatar, Star Trek, 2012 or Transformers 2.
Rob says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:15am
Interesting that Coraline, A Christmas Carol, and G-Force were all on the list of 15 semi-finalists but none made it. Also eliminate: Angels and Demons, Sherlock Holmes and Where The Wild Things Are. It seems like maybe the visual-effects branch is kind of stuck in this notion that live-action sci-fi is all that visual effects is really about.
guany says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:17am
The nominees will be Avatar, District 9, and Star Trek.
Bill says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:18am
where the wild things are should have made it, star trek distrcit 9 and avatar should be the 3
J.-C. B. says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:21am
I’m with Jabba and Guany : District 9, Avatar and Star Trek. The winner will be Avatar (of course!)
Loyal says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:25am
Trek, D9, and Avatar
District 9′s possible nomination tally is adding up quite nicely
Screenplay
Visual Effects
Make Up?
Sound Editing?
Sound Mixing?
Best Picture?
ladylurks says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:30am
They really should expand this category to five nominees. It’s past time.
WalterNeff says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:38am
“It seems like maybe the visual-effects branch is kind of stuck in this notion that live-action sci-fi is all that visual effects is really about”
What other experts would you suggest?
Gregoire says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:41am
As long as Transformers is nowhere near the top three, I’m fine. The nominations should be:
– District 9 — for seamlessly incorporating great effects into a wide variety of camera shots and creation of realistic, interacting aliens
– Harry Potter — for upping its game from prior films, creating unexpected, utter unique images of fantasy
– Avatar — for, duh
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:43am
I agree. Every major category should really have 5 nominees. Is it a potential nominee’s fault that their field is less prevalent? If anything, enough movies now use visual effects, and having 5 perfectly good nominees would be no worse than having 10 Best Picture nominees! Take a look at the AMPAS breakdown on the right, too – there are more visual effects artists than editors, cinematographers, scorers, or documentarians, all categories with 5 nominees. There’s no question that good visual effects take a lot of effort and have a great impact on effects-driven movies. Why not have 5 nominees? If anything, it gives the show producers a greater excuse to include scenes from more big-budget blockbusters in their clip packages.
It’s interesting that, for the first time ever, the 3 nominees (Avatar, D9, Star Trek) could all be Best Picture nominees. It probably won’t happen, though. Even 2 of those making the cut would be lucky.
alliewayz says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:44am
The effects in District 9 were lame and ineffective. But I suppose then it will be one of the top three, since VISUAL EFFECTS usually go to the most popular films.
Avatar will win.
And I am disappointed they didn’t even include Where the Wild Things Are in the top 7. For shame. They were one of the best this year.
greg says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:53am
its a shame that wtwta didnt get in… truely breathtaking visual effects.
Nick K. says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:56am
How did “Where the Wild Things Are” not get in? The special effects were stunning. After a while, I felt like the creatures were actually quite real and saw them more as characters than I did special effects.
Well, it’s obvious the nominees will now be:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Way to go Academy. You’ve done a lot of stupid shit this week, let’s see what else you do to tick me off.
Ed says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:59am
Loyal: I think the tally should include “Art Direction”…it just seems like the type of thing they would appreciate
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:02am
It’s plain to see that they think of WTWTA as more costume- than visual-effects-based. Doesn’t mean it will get costumes, though.
john says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:09am
Seven excellent choices. Yes, Where the Wild Things Are would have been worthy, but there’s no faulting these selections. It is definitely time for this category to expand past three nominees since four of these contenders (AVATAR, STAR TREK, DISTRICT 9, and 2012) would be deserving winners!
Gustavo H.R. says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:30am
This category sucks. They didn’t even nominated INDIANA JONES 4 last year.
Free says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:07pm
Does this change a single thing in terms of how people thought the nominations would play out?
KGB says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:26pm
I’m late to the party – having not been aware of the previous, longer list. But where is The Lovely Bones?
And I agree – all categories should expand to 5, even the dubious Makeup category which IMO should be divided into Special Effects Makeup and traditional Makeup – seeing as this award nearly always leans towards the spectacular.
Jesus Alonso says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:28pm
Avatar and 2012 should be locks. District 9 and Star Trek are the two contenders for the third place, imho.
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:30pm
The last time there was a list, of 15 or so films, The Lovely Bones was already left off.
Pablo (Col) says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:32pm
This category has been locked for months.
Avatar, District 9, Star Trek.
Piece of pie (citing masterpiece 2010).
Minerva says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:32pm
¡BRAVO! for Harry Potter 6 and Avatar, my favorites movies. ¡BRAVO!
Danny says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:34pm
Harry Potter really did up its game. Amazing smokey effects.
My picks would be Avatar, HP, and Star Trek with Avatar as the winner.
Matt says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 2:51pm
Probably the easiest race to call now, District 9, Avatar, Star Trek, with Avatar as the winner.
Noah says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 8:58pm
What Danny said.
I’m thinking I must be crazy, but I really think HP6 deserves some serious consideration in the techs. Cinematography, art direction, score, visual effects, makeup, and sound mixing are probably deserved, although obviously score isn’t happening. And the rest are long shots at best.
Oh, well. Still two more shots for the academy to give some small recognition to the franchise.
Alex says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:15pm
I’m not totally convinced about District 9. I think Avatar is a lock, and that Star Trek, 2012, Transformers and HP6 will fight for the other two spots.
Alper says:
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 4:14am
1-AVATAR
2-2012
3-DISTRICT 9 (unforgettable)