On November 29th the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences announced its shortlist for the Visual effects category at the Academy Awards. Among the films on the list were Life of Pi, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Marvel's The Avengers, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, Cloud Atlas, The Amazing Spider-Man, John Carter, Skyfall, and The Dark Knight Rises.
The list came as a surprise because only 10 films were chosen. The Academy usually unveils a longlist of 17 films and then usually narrows it down to a shortlist. However this year they decided to go straight to a shortlist. Films that will miss a chance to get nominated included The Impossible, Flight, The Hunger Games, Looper, Men in Black 3 and Wrath of the Titans.
Out of the films in the short list four films have a history of winning or getting nominated for their respective franchises. The Hobbit, comes after The Lord of the Rings series. The three films won the visual effects category three years in a row. The Amazing Spiderman comes after the first two Spiderman films were nominated for the category with the second film winning the in 2004.
Christopher Nolan also has a history with the category as his films Inception which won in 2010, and The Dark Knight were nominated for the category in 2008. Two James Bond films were also nominated for Visual effects with the category being won in 1965 for the film Thunderball.
However as of late the Academy has opted to give the award to a film also nominated for the best picture award. In 2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , in 2009 Avatar, in 2010 Inception and in 2011 Hugo all won the category and were also nominated for best picture. Therefore many pundits have been speculating that Life of Pi is the front-runner to win the category because it is also a lock for best picture.
This clearly harms such films as The Dark Knight Rises which is looking less and less like a possibility for best picture. If the Academy continues like past years and The Dark Knight Rises fails to obtain a Best Picture nomination, then it may also loses its single best chance at winning one in the visual effects category.
The members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 3. Following the screenings, the members will vote to narrow the field to five films for final Oscar consideration.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Frontrunners
Life of Pi
Prometheus
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Cloud Atlas
Strong competitors
Skyfall
Snow White and the Huntsman
Other considerations
John Carter
Marvel's The Avengers
The Amazing Spider-Man