We had three films release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Dune

One of the year’s biggest films has emerged from critical response as an Oscar contender, at least in the technical categories. Based on Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel, Dune is Denis Villeneuve’s latest technical marvel starring an array of prominent actors. Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides, the son of a prominent noble house who finds himself trapped in the desert after a rival house attempts to assassinate everyone he knows and loves.

Villeneuve’s film has a stellar 83% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a solid, but not spectacular 75 at MetaCritic. As for audiences, they are much more impressed with higher ratings at both sites with an 8.3 rating at IMDb (ranking in the top 130 films of all-time currently) and a superlative A- at CinemaScore. So the film is clearly popular, which makes its weak $40 million US opening a bit unusual, but it also means the film is in line for a lot of Oscar consideration, including Best Picture and Best Directing, much like prior films like Gravity and Life of Pi. That could prove a boon to Villeneuve. It’s also sure to pick up nominations in several below-the-line categories including Original Score, Film Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, Sound, and Visual Effects. It could also pick up wins in Cinematography and Visual Effects if nowhere else.

Ron’s Gone Wrong

A little more on the disappointment side, Ron’s Gone Wrong did manage an A from Cinema Score, but its mediocre 7.2 at IMDb is worrisome. That said, it finished with an 81% at RottenTomatoes (with a 95% audience score) and a more modest 65 at MetaCritic, so it’s a pretty above average animation effort. The film is about a futuristic world where every youngster has a fully customizable robot friend, but for the film’s protagonist, he gets a second hand model that’s more glitchy than customized. As he tries to improve his robot, the automaton manages to start infecting others, making the bot a target for elimination.

It’s not an easy plot to explain, at least based on the trailers, but it looks like a sweet, good natured animated film about being different and standing up for your uniqueness. The concept of staying true to yourself is quite common in animation, which makes this effort seem a little less inventive than many other recent animated releases. Still, the year has seen far fewer than expected and that positions it well for an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature where original concepts, even if somewhat derivative, are often more successful than copy-and-paste sequels.

The French Dispatch

Before The Grand Budapest Hotel, director Wes Anderson was a niche figure in cinema whose unique and oddball film efforts were relished by critics, but largely ignored by audiences and the Academy. With Grand Budapest, Anderson managed to break out of his box and nab nine Oscar nominations with victories in four categories. It was his biggest success to that point. While the Rushmore director no doubt loves finally getting more acclaim than he’d gotten previously, he wasn’t likely to stay with the more accessible affairs that led to that success.

Thus enters The French Dispatch, Anderson’s first live-action feature since Grand Budapest in 2014. Having only made Isle of Dogs in the interim, Anderson seems more than happy to keep making the movies he wants in the timeframe and quality he wants, who cares what anyone thinks. Thus, reviews and opinions about French Dispatch have been largely laudatory, but not exceptional. Many feel that it’s a film for Anderson fans only. That said, his colorful aesthetic is likely to appeal to Oscar voters in the craft categories, mainly Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup & Hairstyling with Original Score a distant possibility as well. It won’t likely appear in many above-the-line categories, though Original Screenplay is always a potential good bet.