The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced this year’s short list of films eligible to be nominated for the Best Visual Effects Academy Awards. This is just the first step towards earning a spot of the list of five nominees that will be voted on for the Oscar. From these 15, seven titles will be chosen in the next round of eliminations. At this point members of the Academy’s visual effects branch will watch 15 minute highlight reels from each of those films to choose the five official nominees which will be announced on January 25.
The eligible films are –
- Alice in Wonderland
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- Clash of the Titans
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Hereafter
- Inception
- Iron Man 2
- The Last Airbender
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Scott Pilgrim vs the World
- Shutter Island
- The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
- TRON: Legacy
- Unstoppable
So how will this process shake out? There are a few titles that will definitely not make it out of this first round – Clash Of The Titans, Percy Jackson and The Last Airbender most definitely. Iron Man 2, Prince Of Persia and Unstoppable may pass on to the group of seven, but I don’t see all of them making it to the final five. Inception, Scott Pilgrim and TRON: Legacy all seem like sure bets to me, leaving the rest as wild cards. Since there is no clear cut leader in the field this year like last year’s Avatar, it should be interesting to see who things play out.
