We had two films release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.
Ad Astra
In recent years, sci-fi has played a significant role at the Academy Awards. Films like Arrival, The Martian, Gravity, Her, Inception, District 9, and Avatar managed Best Picture nominations in the expanded Best Picture slate, giving Oscar chances to major directors working in a more Academy-friendly medium than perhaps they were used to.
For Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity), and Christopher Nolan (Inception), their science fiction efforts gave them their first Best Picture citations. while Ridley Scott (The Martian), Spike Jonze (Her), and James Cameron (Avatar) each made major returns to Academy favor with theirs. Only Neill Blomkamp (District 9) didn’t have a career prior to his sci-fi success.
Director James Gray would fall into the former category of a well respected director finally making it to the big time, but Ad Astra wasn’t nearly the success that these other films were. With the exception of Her, all of these sci-fi spectacles made over $100 million at the box office, with all but Arrival and District 9 topping $200 million. For Ad Astra, the former possibility remains a pipe dream while the latter is all but impossible with its meager $19 million opening.
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