VISUAL EFFECTS SHORTLIST:
| “Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” |
| “Bloodshot” |
| “Love and Monsters” |
| “Mank” |
| “The Midnight Sky” |
| “Mulan” |
| “The One and Only Ivan” |
| “Soul” |
| “Tenet” |
| “Welcome to Chechnya” |
Where is “The Invisible Man” on this shortlist? It may have not been the front runner, but it definitely deserved to be apart of the conversation. On March 6, the Visual Effects Branch members will be getting ten-minute excerpts from the final ten films and, from there, will make their decisions.
Per the Academy’s press release:
Nominations voting begins on Friday, March 5, 2021, and concludes on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.
Nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, March 15, 2021.
The 93rd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2021, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS
“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn”
Warner Bros. Pictures
“The Midnight Sky”
Netflix
“Mulan”
Walt Disney Pictures
“Soul”
Disney+Pixar
“Tenet”
Warner Bros. Pictures
WHY I’M NOT PICKING THE OTHER FIVE
The five films I picked feel like the safest bets. “Tenet” likely has an edge as front runner because of it’s innovative storytelling and out-of-the-box time manipulation. “Soul” might be a risky pick, as it’s animated and might leave Academy voters wondering what exactly is visual effects. And “Mulan” was so panned, I’m not sure anyone will want to be rewarding it. But it’s visual effects were easily the best part of the film.
If any film can bump one of these, it’s probably “Mank,” which will likely be getting lots of love overall. The fact that “Welcome to Chechnya” made it to the shortlist should say something. Having not seen “Love and Monsters” yet, there’s no telling if it’ll make this list or not. And let’s hope “Bloodshot” and “The One and Only Ivan” are just filler. How these films made it over “The Invisible Man” will be a mystery.
