2010 Visual Effects Oscar Nominees announced

by Liam on December 12, 2009 · 11 comments

district 9 alien The 82nd Academy Awards will be held next March and the 15 movies nominated for the Visual Effects Oscar have been revealed. Here they are:

Angels & Demons
Avatar
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Caro
District 9
G-Force
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are

In early January the list will be narrowed down to 7, then later in the month members of the visual effects branch will watch excerpts from the movies, and the list will be narrowed down to 3. Earlier this year it was a showdown between Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with Button’s ageing effects coming out on top.

Since Avatar Day when we got a glimpse at 15 minutes of footage I’ve had my money on Avatar winning, and from the early reviews it seems it will be a serious contender. I’m glad District 9 got a nod. Out of all the films nominated it had the lowest budget ($30 million) and the guys at WETA did a great job with those financial constraints.

Which visual effects wowed you in 2009? Who do you want to win the Visual Effects Oscar?

  • http://twitter.com/jovaughnbrown judgejobrown

    Obviously Avatar is going to win…

  • Sindre Kristiansen

    I will be very surprised if Avatar don't win.

    Weta Digital actually turned down Peter Jacksons request on doing the effects for D9 because of the massive amount of work on Avatar. So they “just” did the mothership. The visual effects companies is Canadian based. Most of them from Vancouver Film School (VFS). Neill Blomkamp also went to VFS. (the link!!!)

    Company credits: Image Engine Design, The Embassy, MXFX Visual Effects (ZA), (info on IMDB).

    Just thought you should know that Weta did not do the visual effects on this movie…just the mothership. :)

  • Skaplja

    TRANSFORMERS!!!

  • Richard Face

    G.I. Joe's been nominated for an Oscar. I dunno… to me, something's just wrong with that statement.

  • vcurtz

    It'll definitely be Avatar, but I'm weirdly proud of District 9 for getting nominated. I loved that movie so much, and it looked so good. I would have never guessed it had such a low budget. The thought didn't cross my mind, those aliens were sick.
    It's my favorite movie of the year so far. xD I almost feel bad, because I know Avatar's going to be my #1 movie of the year, but District 9 was so good. It's a close second. <3

  • http://www.justinmichaelholt.com/ Justin Holt

    i was JUST going to say the same thing.

    wanted to make sure the right people get the proper recognition.

    cheers to you sindre.

    j

  • http://www.justinmichaelholt.com/ Justin Holt

    i was JUST going to say the same thing.

    wanted to make sure the right people get the proper recognition.

    cheers to you sindre.

    j

  • gorbs30

    it will be Avatar, 2012 and Star Trek, with Avatar winning the Oscar. Transformers 2 and District 9 should make top 7 though.

  • salisali

    Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

  • gel_racs

    AVATAR…bigtime!!!!!!

  • nigel

    The mothership was created at Image Engine Design along with all the aliens. Weta rendered it for several shots where you see it moving (the asset was passed from IE to weta,) but all static mothership shots as well as the build were done at IE.

    Weta's huge involvement was actually with Weta Workshops, not Weta Digital. The workshop did the initial design of the alien along with every other prop you see in the movie. Awesome work on their part.

    Oh, and the VFX companies in vancouver are not “VFS” based – they have a few employees who went to school there but that's it.