Three Marvel Studios films — ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ and ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ — are also in the run for the visual effects Oscar
Last week, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences notified producers and select studio personnel that their films were among the 20 in contention for best visual effects.
My Oscar Book:
The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will narrow the list further to 10 for the bakeoff stage, beginning on Monday. Then, five nominees will be chosen and announced on Jan. 24.
Two films about airplane pilots got members’ attention with JD Dillard’s “Devotion” with Jonathan Majors and Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” with Tom Cruise making the initial cut. The latter is one of the favorites to win the category.
Thirteen years after “Avatar” (2009), James Cameron’s anticipated sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” is among the early frontrunners for the prize.
Superhero films are plentiful with three sequels from Marvel Studios landing in the field — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Also welcomed is DC’s Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” sliding into the fray.
International contenders such as Edward Berger’s war drama “All Quiet on the Western Front” from Netflix, made an entry.
The action epic “RRR” from S.S. Rajamouli and Variance Films, the U.S. distributor, is also among the notable entries adding to its momentum.
The Russo Brothers’ “The Gray Man” has a shot at a nom after doing very well on the streaming platform. “The Gray Man” is Netflix’s No. 3 most popular movie of all time. The streamer calculates its Most Popular list based on a title’s viewership in its first 28 days of availability, and “The Gray Man” reached 253.9 million hours viewed during that time. It’s outranked by “Red Notice” (364 million in 2021), “Don’t Look Up” (359.8 million in 2021) and “Bird Box” (282 million in 2018).
Independent cinema made a significant showing with The Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All at Once” with Michelle Yeoh getting love for its multiverse travels and all-powerful everything bagels.
The 20th feature on the shortlist is currently unknown but is believed to be either a non-English language or documentary title.
All official visual effects nominees will be determined by the Academy and announced with the other 22 categories on January 24.
- “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)
- “Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios)
- “The Batman” (Warner Bros.)
- “Black Adam” (Warner Bros.)
- “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)
- “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (Marvel Studios)
- “Elvis” (Warner Bros.)
- “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
- “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” (Warner Bros.)
- “Good Night Oppy” (Amazon Studios)
- “The Gray Man” (Netflix)
- “Jurassic World: Dominion” (Universal Pictures)
- “Nope” (Universal Pictures)
- “RRR” (Variance Films)
- “Thirteen Lives” (Amazon Studios/MGM)
- “Thor: Love and Thunder” (Marvel Studios)
- “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)
