Academy Announces 7 Visual Effects Oscar Finalists

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 6, 2009

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the names of the 7 finalist in the Visual Effects category. As you might remember, the Academy narrowed the list to 15 back on December 12, and have narrowed it further. On Thursday, January 15, all members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The final seven films that will compete for the three spots are as follows, in alphabetical order:

  • Australia
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  • The Dark Knight
  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army
  • Iron Man
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth
  • The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Personally I am glad to see movies such as Hancock and The Day the Earth Stood Still get dropped off the list, though I would have liked to see the Academy keep The Incredible Hulk in the lineup. And as much as this may ruffle some feathers with the natives, but my personal pick in the category (of the films remaining) is Benjamin Button. Sure, The Dark Knight was a great film, but there was no visual effect in any of these other movies quite like the one David Fincher and team did in making Brad Pitt into a shriveled old man.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Which film would get your vote for Best Visual Effects?


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  • Jason
    Jourrney to the Center of the Earth?? Seriously? That movie had some of the WORST effects I've seen short of MST3K
  • Hm. Does the 3D give it any points? Because that was sweet. Hellboy had the best practical effects by far, but is that enough? Iron Man looked awesome, but is it groundbreaking? For innovation, Benjamin Button probably should win.
  • I haven't seen Australia yet from this list, but I will have to vote for Benjamin Button. The whole movie is one long (really long) special effect. I've noticed that the Academy will pick the most innovative SFX as the winner. This will definitely beat out the competition. The others really don't have anything that we haven't seen before. Two-Face's special effect was innovative but only at the end of Dark Knight, but Benjamin Button did something very similar through the entire span of a movie.
  • I'll have to agree with you, definitely Benjamin Button.
  • I heard it takes a large team of FX Technicians to turn Brad into a good looking super star every day...on Benjamen Button he simple didn't do his daily routine......lol.
  • Why do they even announce 7 films as nominees for nominations? That'd be like putting out a list of 11 movies and saying "5 of these will be nominated for Best Pic." I agree with you on Incredible Hulk, relieved to see no Indiana Jones, and think Ben Buttons, Iron Man, and Dark Knight will be the nominees. Because even though TDK won't win it'll get a bunch of technical nominations and this will be one of them.
  • Red
    Hellboy II had an entire city populated with creature prosthetics. They did such a good job at them the actors could emote normally and you could still connect with them.
  • Isn't that more makeup effect than visual effect, though?
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