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86th Oscars: Visual Effects Shortlist

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Wesley Lovell

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The Academy has narrowed down the potential Best Visual Effects nominees to a list of ten films. From this list, five will be nominated. This is about as unshocking a list as one could imagine. That The Lone Ranger made it on the list is the only real outrage. Toss it and World War Z as well as Oblivion and you have a tough pack of film. I don’t expect two Marvel movies in the list and Thor: The Dark World is largely artificial environments, so I don’t think it will be on the final list. That leaves Elysium, Gravity, The Hobbit, Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into Darkness and Pacific Rim. I’m most inclined to drop Elysium from consideration, but I’d prefer to see Star Trek go if only because the effects weren’t really that great. Gravity will, so the fun part of this game will be trying to predict the final five.

10 Contenders Remain in VFX Oscar® Race

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 86th Oscars®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“Elysium”
“Gravity”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Iron Man 3”
“The Lone Ranger”
“Oblivion”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
“Thor: The Dark World”
“Pacific Rim”
“World War Z”

The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist. All members of the Visual Effects Branch will now be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films on Thursday, January 9, 2014. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

Oscars nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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11 responses to “86th Oscars: Visual Effects Shortlist”

  1. Criddic Avatar
    Criddic

    I have been watching Star Trek for most of my life, and while I don’t go to conventions and such, I consider myself a fan. Seen the original series (including the first pilot, “The Cage” with Jeffrey Hunter), the Next Generation series, all the movies and an episode here and there of the various other TV series. Perhaps I have to watch it again (which I will soon, since I ordered a copy on blu-ray), but I thought it was clever the way they sort of twisted the Kahn story around in the new time-line. Not betrayed one bit myself. I didn’t view it as a complete re-do of the story, but an alternate history version that I thought worked in its own way with the reboot approach.

  2. Bryan K. Macklowe on Facebook Avatar
    Bryan K. Macklowe on Facebook

    It may get in for sound, though.

  3. Almasy Avatar
    Almasy

    As Wesley said, Gravity will win by a mile

    The fun is predicting the final five, I think these will:

    Elysium
    Gravity
    The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
    Iron Man 3
    Pacific Rim

    is the most varied style of FX of the five

  4. John Zanardelli on Facebook Avatar
    John Zanardelli on Facebook

    No Man of Steel!! Sweeeeet!!!!!

    1. Wesley Lovell Avatar
      Wesley Lovell

      Man of Steel would be a better choice than Oblivion, Lone Ranger and Star Trek at least.

      1. Hollywood Z Avatar
        Hollywood Z

        Perhaps, but it may have been excluded the same way that Spider-Man 3 was excluded from the shortlist. In 2007, it’s inclusion would have made more sense than I Am Legend or Evan Almighty, but the overall reception of the film really hurt it’s chances.

        That being said, Gravity will definitely win this one by a mile. Best Picture nominees fair the best in this category over all others. The other four nominees will probably be:

        – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (If it doesn’t disappoint or bomb)
        – Iron Man 3 (Highest grossing film of the year? Yeah, it’s in)
        – Pacific Rim (Of the ten finalists, it’s probably the glossiest of them and has a large group of passionate supporters)
        – Star Trek: Into Darkness (of the five, this is the one that I think has the weakest chance and could easily fall to World War Z)

        World War Z’s scope and crew names (Scott Farrar, John Rosengrant & Neil Corbould) could sneak in over Star Trek because of the amount of disappointed fans (and those who felt betrayed).

        1. Wesley Lovell Avatar
          Wesley Lovell

          Iron Man 3 won’t be the year’s highest grossing film for long. Hunger Games should easily pass it in the next few weeks.

          1. Hollywood Z Avatar
            Hollywood Z

            True, but Catching Fire isn’t on this shortlist, so the box office heavyweight here is Iron Man 3 (a la The Avengers, Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows 2 & The Dark Knight) and the CGI was rather impressive.

            1. Wesley Lovell Avatar
              Wesley Lovell

              I don’t think the CGI is what will win Iron Man 3 the nomination. It’s the combination of CGI and models. The destruction of Tony’s estate sequence alone should net it a nod.

        2. Criddic Avatar
          Criddic

          Who felt betrayed by “Star Trek Into Darkness”?

          1. Wesley Lovell Avatar
            Wesley Lovell

            Anyone who actually knows something about Star Trek, Trek History and the piss poor job they did adapting Kahn (a job they never should have actually performed).

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