Along with many of this year’s biggest blockbusters, the list of contenders also includes a few films that failed to find success at the box office despite their impressive VFX elements. The films currently being considered for the category include the following projects (in alphabetical order):
Ant-Man
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Bridge of Spies
Chappie
Everest
Ex Machina
Furious Seven
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
In the Heart of the Sea
Jupiter Ascending
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
The Revenant
Spectre
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Terminator Genisys
Tomorrowland
The Walk
The preliminary list of contenders for the Visual Effects category was determined by the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee, and the list will be narrowed down to ten films later this month. The final nominations for the 88th Academy Awards will be announced Thursday, January 14, at 5:30 am PT during a live broadcast from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.
While films like The Martian, The Walk, and The Revenant were all expected to earn consideration, other films like Jupiter Ascending and Furious Seven are a bit of a surprise, and it will be interesting to see which projects make the cut when the list is reduced to ten nominees.
Last year’s five nominees for the VFX award included Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar won the Academy Award for that category.
The 88th Academy Awards ceremony will be held February 28, 2016, in Hollywood. The event will be broadcast live on ABC, beginning at 7 pm ET.
