For a while now, as I just wrote about in the directors piece, the moody effects film has mostly been ignored by the Academy. There was District 9, which got a Best Picture slot when there were a solid ten nominations each voting member could submit. But when they shrunk the nomination ballots back to five for each Academy member, suddenly those five slots simply could not sacrifice a drama for a genre movie. That meant that since 2011, the Academy has mostly hewn to tradition.
Let’s clarify a little just for those who might be confused.
1945 – 2008 – the Academy had five Best Picture nominees and five slots for members to pick their favorites.
2009 – 2010 – The Academy allowed each member to choose ten nominees for Best Picture, which allowed them more freedom to pick from genre movies, movies starring women, etc.
2012 – now – The Academy shrunk the nominees back down to five so voters must only write down their favorite FIVE of the year, as opposed to their favorite ten.
Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk about two movies in the conversation right now – Snowpiercer and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. While the Apes movie is sure to dominate in visual effects, at least until Interstellar comes out, Snowpiercer might have an advantage in some other categories.
Snowpiercer is sitting with an 83 on Metacritic, while Dawn still has the luxury of being seen and reviewed only by only 9 people so far. Its score will likely drop somewhat as the backlash sets in. Then again, maybe it won’t. If it ends the season in the 90s on Metacritic, makes a shitload of money at the box office, it might become too big to ignore.
The question remains, can either of them make it onto the five slots voters will have for Best Picture? With five? I’m betting no way. Genre movies, or any big budget franchise, will be the first to get tossed in lieu of more traditional dramas. How many members will put either film down in the number spot come December? Or even in the five spot? There are still a few more moody genre films to come, with Interstellar chief among them.
Still, it’s nice to have great movies to see, no matter if the industry pays attention to them or not.
![2025 Oscars: Can a Late-Breaker Still Win Best Picture? [POLL]](https://www.awardsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/gladiator-350x250.jpg)
So sick of these moody blockbusters trying to be Christopher Nolan (who does at in a small dash of humor now and then). I’m almost tempted to praise Michael Bay. I like big budgeted blockbusters with brains behind them. But being more mature thematically doesn’t have to mean sucking all the humor out of it.
“Even a genre film still has to be Oscar-ish.”
Oscar-ish is a genre
“Still, it’s nice to have great movies to see, no matter if the industry pays attention to them or not.”
That’s it right there.
My new predictions: Halfway through the year:
Best Picture
Big Eyes
Foxcatcher* 9 Nominations
Gone Girl 7 Nominations
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies 5 Nominations
The Imitation Game 5 Nominations
Interstellar 8 Nominations
Mr. Turner 6 Nominations
Unbroken
Best Director
David Fincher for Gone Girl
Angelina Jolie for Unbroken
Mike Leigh for Mr. Turner
Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher*
Christopher Nolan for Interstellar
Best Actor
Chadwick Boseman in Get on Up
Steve Carrell in Foxcatcher*
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Jeremy Renner in Kill the Messenger
Timothy Spall in Mr. Turner
Best Actress
Amy Adams in Big Eyes 2 Nominations
Julianne Moore in Map to the Stars* 1 Nomination
Rosemund Pike in Gone Girl
Michelle Williams in Suite Francaise 2 Nominations
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
Best Supporting Actor
Richard Armitage in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Josh Brolin in Inherent Vice* 2 Nominations
Bill Murray in St. Vincent 1 Nomination
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Channing Tatum in Foxcatcher
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt in Into the Woods 7 Nominations
Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year 2 Nominations
Viola Davis in Get on Up* 1 Nomination
Kristen Dunst in The Two Faces of January
Anna Kendrick in Into the Woods
Best Foreign Language Film
Leviathan from Russia 1 Nomination
Mommy from Canada* 1 Nomination
Two Days One Night from Belgium 1 Nomination
Wild Tales from Argentina 1 Nomination
The Wonders from Italy 1 Nomination
Best Documentary Feature
The Case Against 8 1 Nomination
The Green Prince 1 Nomination
Life Itself* 1 Nomination
Return to Home 1 Nomination
Rich Hill 1 Nomination
Best Animated Feature
The Boxtrolls 1 Nomination
How to Train Your Dragon 2 1 Nomination
The Lego Movie* 2 Nominations
The Princess Kaguya 1 Nomination
Song of the Sea 1 Nomination
Original Screenplay
Big Eyes
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar*
A Most Violent Year
Mr. Turner
Adapted Screenplay
Foxcatcher*
Gone Girl
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Imitation Game
Unbroken
Costume Design
Big Eyes
Exodus: Gods and Kings 3 Nominations
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner*
The Two Faces of January
Cinematography
Dion Beebe for Into the Woods*
Roger Deakins for Unbroken 2 Nominations
Hoyt Van Hoytema for Interstellar
Dick Pope for Mr. Turner
Robert D. Yeoman for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Production Design
Big Eyes*
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Into the Woods
Interstellar
Film Editing
Stuart Levy and Conor O’Neill for Foxcatcher*
Kirk Baxter for Gone Girl
William Goldenberg for The Imitation Game
Ronald Sanders for Map to the Stars
Lee Smith for Interstellar
Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 1 Nomination
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Get on Up
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*
Interstellar
Makeup and Hair Styling
Exodus: Gods and Kings
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*
Into the Woods
Original Score
Marco Beltrami for The Homesman 1 Nomination
Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat for Unbroken
Mychael Danna for Foxcatcher
Hans Zimmer for Interstellar*
Original Song
Annie 1 Nomination
Into the Woods
The Lego Movie*
Muppets Most Wanted 1 Nomination
Unbroken
Sound Mixing
Get on Up
Gone Girl
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Jersey Boys
Sound Editing
Foxcatcher
Gone Girl
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
I just saw Snowpiercer today. Right now, I don’t think it would be something I’d include in a top 5 of the year, but then again who says how bad this year might be? Out in normal America I haven’t seen anything nominateable, imo, yet. But then again, if everything else this year is worse than the 8 movies I’ve seen my choice for Oscar noms might include Captain America, X-Men, and Snowpiercer. 😀
I don’t know about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes but I found lots wrong with the first one and wouldn’t have nominated that even if I really enjoyed it overall. Even a genre film still has to be Oscar-ish.
“dark summer blockbusters that have absolutely no joy in them.”
alright, but which summer movies have no joy in them? I liked Edge of Tomorrow but I’m not sure I’d call it joyous. Fairly damn dark, actually.
I haven’t seen any of these films, but I read an article recently about why Summer blockbusters should stop being so self-serious (i.e. Godzilla), and there’s a lot of truth to that.
‘Edge of Tomorrow’ is the best one this year precisely because it’s so fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It just wants to give the audience a good time.
I’m sick of these dark summer blockbusters that have absolutely no joy in them.
I genuinely felt Rise should have been nominated for Best Picture, even though I knew it would never happen. Truly wonderful filmmaking. And as much as I adored Hugo, it was a damn disgrace that Rise didn’t win Visual Effects.
^Please do, Ryan. I think the changing face of blockbusters in recent years is a fascinating topic. Seeing darker themes, slightly deeper characterisation, and greater narrative complexity in mainstream cinema is a welcome relief. Whether it is successful or not, it seems like the studios are at least making a bit more of an effort (Transformers aside). I hope it’s a trend that sticks around for a while yet.
I also hope AMPAS will make room for quality genre films going forward, if they are deserving.
It’s hard for me to think of Snowpiercer as a typical blockbuster. It doesn’t fit any of the criteria we’ve come to expect from blockbusters.
[I was going to write a long comment here, but I think I’ll turn it into a post. ]
I’m still not sold on the notion that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will actually be good, though I felt exactly the same way about Rise and was proved quite wrong about it. Its Metascore will not end up in the 90s though, I don’t think. Nor will Snowpiercer get anywhere near Oscar. Not anywhere near it.
Dawn has only been seen by seven critics (I must have dropped two somewhere) and I normally wouldn’t pay much attention, but they are pretty much high calibre folk. Both Lodge and McCarthy gave a perfect 100, which leads me to expect that something special (at least, for a genre pic) is about to be unleashed.
And, no, I haven’t converted to accepting the grading system – hate it actually. I just treat it as I would the thermometer on the back porch.