The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled its shortlist of 10 films that will contend for the Best Visual Effects Oscar. The films that have made the cut include The Dark Knight Rises, Cloud Atlas, Skyfall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Disney’s John Carter. The list is full of impressive blockbuster fare from 2012, but as we were reminded last year (Hugo over Rise of the Planet of the Apes) the winner of the category tends to favor a Best Picture nominee. As Ang Lee’s adaptation of Life of Pi includes stunning visual effects and is an early favorite to land a Best Picture nomination, prognosticators would do well to keep their eye on that film as the race moves forward. That said, there’s not exactly a lack of great work to thumb through, so this should be an interesting category.
Hit the jump to check out the full list of contenders, and leave your thoughts on the shortlist in the comments. The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced on January 10th, followed by the ceremony on February 24th.
Here’s the list of films that remain in the running for the Best Visual Effects Oscar:
The Amazing Spider-Man
Cloud Atlas
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
John Carter
Life of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Skyfall
Snow White and the Huntsman
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Assuming there will be five nominees(?):
-Life of Pi
-Prometheus
-The Avengers
-The Dark Knight Rises
-The Hobbit
Life of Pi is probably the favorite, but all three LOTR films won Best Visual Effects, so if The Hobbit ends up being reasonably good it has a strong shot at winning.
Prometheus.
Cloud Atlas for the win.
Of those,I think Life of Pi,Prometheus and The Hobbit are the strongest candidates.
The opening sequence of Prometheus alone should be enough to give it the win (I still need to see The Hobbit, though). As for Skyfall and TDKR, good movie but not as many special effects as the others. Spider-Man’s effects were a little too cheesy and glossy. Snow White… no. I personally didn’t think Life of Pi deserves a Best Picture nod, either. I thought it was just okay.
The opening sequence of Prometheus alone should be enough to give it the win (I still need to see The Hobbit, though). As for Skyfall and TDKR, good movie but not as many special effects as the others. Spider-Man\’s effects were a little too cheesy and glossy. Snow White… no. I personally didn\’t think Life of Pi deserves a Best Picture nod, either. I thought it was just okay.
1. Life of Pi
2. The Hobbit (assuming history repeats itself)
3. The Avengers
4. The Dark Knight Rises
5. Skyfall
All the above got great reviews and spectacular box office (assuming history repeats itself for the Hobbit). The remaining 5 got poor reviews (SW and JC) or decidedly mixed reviews. Additionally, except for Pr
Of the ones I’ve seen either Prometheus or Skyfall. No awards should go to Rises. Only hate.
Imbecile.
U mad
Maybe one of those Darwin Awards for the scene when all the cops go to the sewers.
Why is every comment section on collider turning into DKR bashing? Don’t get me wrong. I love it. It’s just great to see so many people taking a stand against Nolan’s tomfoolery. Dec 4. Be here for the most epic beatdown in the history of the internet: Collider’s publication of their review of the Dark Knight Rises Bluray.
1. Life of Pi (Richard Parker and all of the animals)
2. The Hobbit (assuming history repeats itself)
3. The Avengers (Usual CGI invaders and the Hulk)
4. The Dark Knight Rises (Opening prologue and League of Shadows terrorist attack)
5. Skyfall (Good old fashioned stunt work cleaned up by CGI)
All the above got great reviews and spectacular box office (assuming history repeats itself for the Hobbit). The remaining 5 got poor reviews (SW and JC) or decidedly mixed reviews. Additionally, except for Prometheus and Spider Man, all the others bombed or severely underperformed.
Life of Pi. Richard Parker was unparalleled.
PI was visually stunning and the same can be said for Prometheus but if the Hobbit is contending I can’t help but think it will win out.
Also I have to disagree, Mortal Kombat is a very good game but I think Donkey Kong is the best game ever.
Rirruto?
How about some more saaloppy joe’s??!
My prediction
1)The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2) Life of Pi
3) The Avengers
4) Prometheus
5) The Dark Knight Rises
Honorable Mention that could possibly take TDKR place: Cloud Atlas
Cloud Atlas!
I’d go with Prometheus myself (I haven’t seen Life of Pi)…Cloud Atlas, as far as I’m concerned, is a better choice for Makeup and Hairstyling. The scope of the makeup in that film is ridiculous.
What about The Impossible?
They have Snow White, Cloud Atlas and Spiderman but no Impossible? This is really stupid
Much like Gollum before him, Richard Parker is a landmark for photo-realistic characters, so Life of Pi would be my pick. The Hobbit should probably win based on the sheer scope of the thing, even though Middle Earth has plenty of FX awards already.