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

Eternals

Chloé Zhao’s first film following her Best Picture winner, is the polar opposite of her intimate indie feature. Eternals is a big budget Marvel film that wants to be taken seriously for having attracted such a hot director, but is it really the kind of film the Oscars would embrace in a more meaningful way than every other Marvel film that’s been made so far with the exception of Black Panther. With the most diverse cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 13-year history, the film had a lot of potential to start new conversations about what the MCU could be. Unfortunately, early word isn’t particularly great.

Where the film would normally contend as part of the MCU is in the Sound and Visual Effects categories. With Zhao’s eye for visuals, Cinematography couldn’t be ignored either. That said, the $71 million opening was good, but 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, 53 on MetaCritic, B rating at Cinema Score, and the 6.9 at IMDb were all bad. With no prospects for critics to celebrate the film at year-end awards, the film’s prospects diminish significantly to likely nothing.

Spencer

Pablo Larrain last tackled an iconic female historical figure in his 2016 exploration of the life of Jackie Kennedy. That film wasn’t well loved by audiences, but critics uniformly loved it, with the film holding on to grab three Oscar nominations for star Natalie Portman, Original Score, and Costume Design. Could history repeat itself here? The film is already doing better with audiences, but generally worse with critics. That might tip the balance away from Oscar consideration, if it weren’t for the overall plaudits the film is receiving.

Based on a cursory review of critic takes, the acclaim for Kristen Stewart as the late Princess Diana has been much more robust than for Portman, who certainly delivered a bravura performance. That alone might keep the film in the conversation for Best Actress, even if not for the other two categories. That said, if voters are watching it for Stewart’s performance, then it’s entirely possible that the same two categories, Original Score and Costume Design, could be in the offing this time as well, but we’ll have to see how things shake out as the year drags on.