Seven movies are still in the running for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy released the names of said seven movies today. They are, in no particular:
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012
All compete for the gong, but will be whittled down to just three on January 21st. Those three remaining flicks will be announced with the rest of the nominees on February 2 in Los Angeles. The 82nd Academy Awards are given out on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. The ceremony will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
Tim
Jan 6, 2010 at 7:57 pm
The film ‘District 9’ should receive the Oscar for best visual effects because it’s very much a success story, they got so much from so little, and it paid off immensely. Whereas all the other movies are created from enormous budgets and nearly zero constraints, D9 was borne of a limited budget and little more than passion and drive and improvisation. For that it deserves this. It has more imagination than the other movies mentioned, as well.
Andreas
Jan 6, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I agree with Tim on this, not only on the budget & story facts he mentioned, but also because of the fact that it’s visuals are heavily grounded in reality:
The setting is real, the slums are real, the cinematography is real & the human counterparts are real, and the Prawns & other visual effects work hold up incredibly well & are believable.
Considering the real purpose of visual effects & how it should be honoured, I would both nominate Star Trek & Terminator: Salvation as well, given how their visual effects work blends well with the “live-action part” of the movie & (at least in terms of Star Trek) manage to support the story, instead of totally dominating it.
Avatar was groundbreaking, no doubt, but giving its VFX overkill it rather falls under the restrictions of an animated feature…